LAKE CHARLES, La. – Taking a seven-match winning streak into the second round of conference play, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team will travel to rematch McNeese Thursday and Lamar Saturday.
The Islanders (13-8, 8-1 SLC) will face McNeese (9-13, 7-2 SLC) Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in the Legacy Center before stopping at Lamar (1-19, 1-8 SLC) on the way back for a Saturday matchup at 1 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.
The Islanders swept both McNeese and Lamar at home in the first meetings of the season. Both matches handed each opponent their first conference loss of 2023.
A&M-Corpus Christi is the only team in the league so far undefeated on the road in conference play. The team has also won seven in a row, just a half game back in the standings.
"I am really pleased with the level of focus and effort from the team, and it shows in our improvement and upward trajectory over these last couple weeks," said head coach
Steve Greene. "With the help of [assistant coach]
Kristin Watson, our team has shown big improvements with our defense, and we are at the top of the conference in opponent attacking percentage. [Assistant coach]
Julia Carter has been working with our blockers and it's beginning to click as we have been able to block our last couple opponents."
Most recently, the Islanders had a historical week at home in their sweeps over New Orleans and Nicholls. The team posted a program-best .506 hitting percentage against the Privateers to etch itself into the record books. It also marked the highest hitting efficiency by a SLC team this season, and best in conference play since 2020 when Stephen F. Austin hit .517 against Northwestern State.
Against Nicholls, the Islanders kept the Colonels to a season-low -.092 hitting percentage while Greene got his 126
th win at the helm to become the most winning coach in program history.
Through the seven-match hot streak, junior
Leah Stolfus leads all Southland hitters with a .454 hitting percentage while fellow juniors
Morgan Baese and
Kyndal Payne also find themselves in that top-10 ranking with Baese at third (.343) and Payne at seventh (.319).
Payne also leads the league in kills per set (4.33) and points per set (4.72). Stolfus ranks fourth in both categories.
Also leading the league is graduate
Belle Morgan, the reigning and four-time SLC Setter of the Week recipient. She totals a conference-best 387 assists while averaging 12.87 per set.
The team leads the league in seven conference-only categories, including points (18.87/set), hitting percentage (.296), assists (14.68/set), kills (15.74/set), opponent hitting percentage (.137), opponent assists (9.71/set), and opponent kills (10.48/set).
Among all Division I programs, A&M-Corpus Christi is sixth in team kills with 1,088 and eighth in kills per set at 14.13 on the year. They also rank in the top-25 in total assists (977) and digs (1,250).
The Islanders hold an 18-6 lead in the all-time record with McNeese and a 5-4 edge when playing in Lake Charles. A&M-Corpus Christi is 19-13 all-time against Lamar and has not dropped a road match to the Cardinals since 2011.
"Both opponents will offer us unique challenges. McNeese is at the top of the conference and is doing some really good things offensively and defensively while Lamar has improved a lot since we played them the first week of conference play," said Greene.
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