THIBODAUX, Louisiana – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team secured a second-place finish in the Southland Conference standings after topping Nicholls 3-1 on Saturday at David R. Stopher Gymnasium in the regular season finale.
A&M-Corpus Christi (13-19, 13-5) ended the season with a 25-21, 25-23, 26-26, and 25-16 victory over the Colonels (7-23, 4-14) after outhitting them .348 to .283. The .348 hitting percentage was the team's fourth highest of the season.
Panhans recorded her fifth double-double of the season with 54 assists and her season-high of 13 kills. She hit for a .524 mark while sophomores
Kyndal Payne and
Leah Stolfus both turned in above a .400. Payne led the match with 23 kills with Stolfus right behind her at 20.
Senior
Carissa Barnes completed her trend of being the digs-leader in every single conference match this season, turning in the match-high of 25 against Nicholls. It was her 15h match to pick up 20+ digs. Freshman
Zoria Heard turned in 14 digs, her fourth match in a row to record 10+ digs.
"Faith had an outstanding match today," said head coach
Steve Greene. "She really showed off every part of her game from attacking to defense, and of course running a strong offense. Carissa and Zoria both had great defensive performances as well. Their dig quality was a different maker at critical points."
Set one had Nicholls out in front through a 9-6 lead before a five-point spurt by the Islanders reversed the score for a 11-9 A&M-Corpus Christi advantage. The service ace by Barnes kept A&M-Corpus Christi ahead at the 15-12 mark and the attack by Payne extended it to 20-14. The Colonels would threaten the lead to get to 21 points, but the kill by sophomore
Morgan Baese closed out the 25-21 win in favor of the Islanders.
The service ace by Panhans completed a 4-0 run by the Islanders to lead 13-11 in the second set. A pair of kills by Stolfus kept the Islanders ahead 20-17 and despite Nicholls tying it up 20-all, another 4-0 run by A&M-Corpus Christi took the score to 24-20. The Colonels again contested the late lead and got within one before the Islanders finished out the set with the 25-23 edge for a 2-0 lead.
Nicholls took a quick 3-0 lead but a trio of kills by Stolfus pushed a 5-0 run to reverse the lead 5-3. The Islanders led for almost the whole way, even going up 23-18 off the kill by Panhans, but the Colonels fought off set-point five times to stay alive and take set four 28-26 to force a fourth set.
A solo block by Payne allowed the Islanders to take control 11-4 in the fourth set for a lead they never let up. Back-to-back kills by junior
Ella Litterell came at the 15-7 mark and the largest lead of the match came at the 18-8 mark off the kill by Panhans. Another kill by Panhans gave the Islanders match-point and the set ended 25-16 after a Nicholls service errors to give A&M-Corpus Christi the 3-1 win.
The Islanders improved to 20-1 in the all-time record over Nicholls and 9-0 when the meetings have been in Thibodaux.
Stolfus ends the year first overall in the conference with a .348 hitting percentage while Barnes ends first in digs (603) and digs per set (5.20). In conference play, Payne ends the year first in kills (319), kills per set (4.91), points (350.5) and points per set (5.39). Panhans ends the year first in assists per set (10.57) while also finishing second in hitting percentage at a .360 in conference play.
The Southland Conference Tournament is set to begin Thursday, Nov. 17 in Hammond, Louisiana. The championship match will be played on Sunday, Nov. 20.
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