HAMMOND, Louisiana – A long five-set match ultimately ended Northwestern State's way as the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team bowed out of the Southland Conference Tournament in the quarterfinals Friday at the University Center.
The No. 4 Islanders (13-20, 13-5), who earned a first-round bye, concluded their 2022 season after dropping a tough 3-2 decision to No. 5 Northwestern State (19-12, 10-8). A&M-Corpus Christi finished the regular season tied for second. On the year, the Islanders finished first in the conference in team hitting percentage (.272), team kills (1,007), team kills per set (15.49), and points per set (18.66).
The loss marked the first time the Islanders dropped a tournament match to a current Southland opponent, after winning the previous two championships. They are now 14-7 all-time in the conference tournament.
"We dealt with a lot of adversity this season and I am proud of how the team handled and overcame any of those challenges," said head coach
Steve Greene. "Today's match was a microcosm of our team struggles this season. We had a couple outstanding individual performances but not enough balance or depth to adapt and execute when needed.
"Team sports require many levels of communication, support, and synergy to achieve greatness and win championships. It is difficult to rely so heavily on a few players to carry the team night in and night out. We were improving throughout the season but unfortunately came up short and were unable to execute the necessary aspects of the game to win not only today's match but repeat as tournament champions," said Greene.
The Islanders were paced by the big offensive effort from the All-Conference First-Team selection, sophomore
Leah Stolfus, who turned in a match and career-high 25 kills for a .478 mark. Stolfus also recorded five digs and two blocks during the match.
Sophomore
Kyndal Payne, the SLC Player of the Year, followed Stolfus with 19 kills along with 15 digs for her 15
th double-double of the season. The SLC Setter of the Year, senior
Faith Panhans, also recorded a double-double of 53 assists and 13 kills.
Defensively, SLC Libero of the Year
Carissa Barnes yet again turned in the match-high digs of 25. It marked her 16
th 20+ dig performance. Additionally, she added four service aces to her career record of 178, two shy of matching the program record.
Payne in appropriate fashion started the scoring off in the match with a quick kill. The first set would begin a slew of back-and-forth, but a 3-0 run pulled the Islanders ahead at the 13-10 mark. The Lady Demons would reverse the score and take a late lead 19-17, but another vital scoring run by the Islanders that ended on the attack by freshman
Tayah Little gave A&M-Corpus Christi a 23-20 advantage. The kill by Panhans and the ace by Barnes ended the set 25-23 in favor of the Islanders.
Despite the Lady Demons taking an early 6-4 lead in the second set, a six-point spurt put the Islanders back on top for a 10-6 lead they never gave up. Kills by Stolfus and junior
Ella Litterell extended the lead to 20-12 before the set ended 25-17 on another service ace, this time by freshman
Zoria Heard, to give the Islanders a 2-0 advantage.
Set three was tight from start to finish as it featured 15 tied scores and seven lead changes. Northwestern State had a late 20-18 lead before kills by Payne and Little tied it 20-all. Stolfus pulled the Islanders ahead at 23-22 with the attack, but the Lady Demons regained a 24-23 lead. The Islanders fought off two set points before Northwestern State managed to take the 30-28 edge for its first set win of the match.
Northwestern State took control of the fourth set early and never let up through a 21-10 lead. The Islanders went on a 7-3 run fueled by a pair of kills by Stolfus and an ace by Barnes to try and cut the deficit, but the effort was cut short as the Lady Demons took set four 25-17 to force a fifth.
An early 4-1 lead came in the fifth for the Islanders with the pair of kills by Payne, but Northwestern State powered back to go up 9-6. The block by Stolfus and Litterell put the Islanders back within one at the 9-8 mark, but a 3-0 run by the Lady Demons put the deficit back at four. Payne and Stolfus each notched another kill, but Northwestern State came out on top in the 15-11 decisive final set for the 3-2 match win.
The Islanders were 2-0 against the Lady Demons in the regular season. The all-time record is now even 12-12 between the programs.
Stolfus ends the year with a .355 overall hitting percentage, which ties the program single-season record. Her career hitting percentage of a .335 puts her at second in the program's career record.
Payne broke the single-season record with 479 total kills. Barnes' 628 total digs puts her at second in the program single-season record and Panhans' 1,080 assists ranks her seventh in the single-season record book.
"I am very proud of the individual honors that Kyndal, Carissa, Faith, and Leah earned and know their hard work on and off the court is the reason they were able to achieve so much and carry loads for our team. There are many takeaways that we can use from this season as we look into our individual and teams' future. Quality communication, quality preparation, and consistent effort are integral to succes," Greene said.
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