CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Opening a three-match week with a victory, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball swept UIW 3-0 for the second time this season to extend its winning streak to 10 Tuesday night in the Dugan Wellness Center.
UIW (12-14, 4-8 SLC) stayed in it early and hit for a .313 mark in the opening set, but A&M-Corpus Christi's (16-8, 11-1 SLC) .333 hitting percentage gave them the 25-21 edge. The Islanders then kept the Cardinals to under a .200 hitting in sets two and three to finish the season sweep with 25-15 and 25-17 scores.
It was the second straight sweep by the Islanders and seventh in conference play, only dropping two sets in the last two weeks. The winning streak is the longest since 2016 when the program won 13 straight in SLC play.
The team hit for a .357 average, their sixth time to hit above .350 against Southland opponents and third in the last five matches.
Sophomore
Rylee Achtzehn turned in a huge offensive performance, tying her season-best of 16 kills to lead the match by twice as many kills than the second leader. It was the second time this season she hit at least a .500 when registering 10+ kills. The other time happened in the first meeting against UIW where she got 13 kills for a .545 mark.
Junior
Kyndal Payne shot down eight kills for a .412 attack percentage while graduate
Morgan Smith nailed seven for a .600 individual hitting clip. Juniors
Leah Stolfus and
Morgan Baese added six and four kills, respectively.
Graduate
Belle Morgan assisted on 38 of the team's 47 kills, adding a pair of attacks herself. She has continued her personal streak of being the match-leader in assists for every conference match this year. Morgan also added a pair of service aces for the second match in a row. She has recorded at least two aces in five SLC matches this year.
Defensively, junior
Kayla White was steadfast and covered the floor for the match-high 19 digs. Payne picked up 12 digs while Morgan recorded seven. Payne has gotten double figure digs in the last three straight matches, just two kills shy of her third consecutive double-double.
At the net, the Islanders blocked the Cardinals seven times with Payne and Smith each getting involved with a trio of them. It was the second match in a row that the Islanders registered seven blocks.
The Islanders will remain home for another midweek match, getting back to their regularly scheduled Thursday night slot at 6:30 p.m. to host HCU in the Dugan Wellness Center. It will be the team's annual Dig Pink game where fans are encouraged to wear pink and Radiology Associates will be presenting a t-shirt giveaway.
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