HAMMOND, Louisiana – The reigning back-to-back tournament champions of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team will look to repeat again, first facing Northwestern State in the Southland Conference Quarterfinals on Friday at 2 p.m. in the University Center, hosted by Southeastern Louisiana.
The Islanders (13-19, 13-5) earned the No. 4 seed after tying with Southeastern and McNeese for second place in the final conference standings. The fourth seed paved the way to a first-round bye and place in the quarterfinals where A&M-Corpus Christi will look to take down No. 5 Northwestern State (17-12, 10-8) for the third time this season after the Lady Demons came from behind to take down No. 8 UIW 3-2 in the first round.
The match, and all other matches in the tournament, will be available to watch live on ESPN+.
"Northwestern State is very well-coached and showed that with a strong comeback win in the first round," said head coach
Steve Greene. "They are a well-balanced team and have strong attackers in all positions. We have been improving week to week in the latter half of conference play and are coming into the tournament with our confidence very high."
Going undefeated in the season series, A&M-Corpus Christi completed a 3-2 comeback on the road at Northwestern State before sweeping the Lady Demons 3-0 at home. The Islanders averaged a .321 hitting percentage against the Lady Demons this season.
Four student-athletes represented A&M-Corpus Christi on the All-Conference First-Team. Sophomore
Kyndal Payne headlined as the SLC Player of the Year along with the First Team selection. Seniors
Faith Panhans and
Carissa Barnes were selected to the First Team while also repeating for the third year in a row as the SLC Setter and Libero of the Year, respectively. Sophomore
Leah Stolfus became a First-Team selection for her first All-Conference honor.
Payne broke the program record for most kills in a match at 28 in game one against Northwestern State. In game two of the series, Payne hit for her season-best .625 while the Islanders kept the Lady Demons to only a .076 hitting percentage.
The Lady Demons are paced by Reaghan Thompson, an All-Conference Second-Team selection who led the conference in total blocks at 87 and blocks per set at 1.18.
A&M-Corpus Christi holds a 12-11 edge in the all-time record over Northwestern State and are 7-3 in the last 10 meetings.
The Islanders are 14-6 all-time in the conference tournament and has never lost an SLC Tournament match to any school that is still in the conference.
The No. 4 seed has been good to the Islanders, as they were seeded fourth in the 2020-21 SLC Tournament where they went on to win the title. A&M-Corpus Christi will be playing for its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and third in a row.
The winner of the match will advance to Saturday's semifinal match against No. 1 HCU on ESPN+ at 12 p.m. The championship match is set for Sunday at 2 p.m.
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