TUSCON, Ariz. – With conference play in sight, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team will compete in the Wildcat Classic at McKale Memorial Center to close out the non-conference schedule this weekend.
The two-day tournament is slated for Friday and Saturday. A&M-Corpus Christi (0-11) will face host Arizona (7-1) and Cal State Northridge (3-6) on Friday at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. MST. before taking on UTEP (4-5) Saturday at 10:30 a.m. MST.
The match against Arizona will be streamed on the Pac12 live stream while the other two matches will be available to watch on FloSports.
The Islanders have faced a challenging 2022 campaign, opening the season at preseason top-ranked Nebraska. A&M-Corpus Christi has competed against three power-five opponents as well as Pepperdine and Rice who have both been receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll.
"We have had some typical and atypical challenges during our non-conference schedule," said head coach
Steve Greene. "We've been able to show flashes of what we can be as a team."
In the Adidas Invitational last weekend, A&M-Corpus Christi held Rice to its lowest kills in a match this season. The Islanders also faced Brown in the tournament where sophomore
Kyndal Payne turned in a season-high 23 kills and senior
Faith Panhans recorded her third double-double of the season with 54 assists and 12 kills.
Senior
Carissa Barnes is 20 digs away from breaking the program's all-career record for digs, sitting at 1,752 going into the weekend. In the match against Tulsa opening weekend, she broke the Bob Devaney Sports Center and program record for most digs in a match at 45.
Payne is 41 kills shy of the 500-kill career milestone, already turning in a team-high 115 kills this season. Fellow sophomore
Leah Stolfus follows Payne with 96 kills for a .313 attack percentage while freshman
Tayah Little records a .324 attack percentage off 65 kills. Little leads the team in blocks at 24.
This weekend will mark the first time A&M-Corpus Christi has faced either Arizona or Cal State Northridge (CSUN). Arizona only has one loss so far, dropping a close 3-2 match to North Carolina. CSUN has garnered wins over UPenn, San Francisco and Southland newcomer Texas A&M-Commerce.
It will be the fifth meeting between A&M-Corpus Christi and UTEP as the Islanders will look for their first program win over the Miners.
"We are looking forward to this weekend to try some more lineups and see where certain players are able to step up into new roles. Arizona is a well-coached and very strong team. We are excited to go there and step up to the challenge of playing against them as well as CSUN and UTEP who are both strong teams as well," Greene said.
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