NATCHITOCHES, La. – Coming off an undefeated week of conference play, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team will look to carry that success back on the road to face Northwestern State Thursday and Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday.
A&M-Corpus Christi (9-8, 4-1 SLC) will play Northwestern State (8-9, 4-2 SLC) Thursday at 6:30 p.m. in Prather Coliseum. The Islanders will then head to A&M-Commerce (7-11, 3-2 SLC) for a 2 p.m. Saturday match in the Field House. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.
The Islanders had a perfect week that featured three matches in five days. Two were won on the road as A&M-Corpus Christi took down UIW and SLC preseason favorites HCU before capping the week with a home victory over McNeese.
"We are about a third of the way through our conference slate and it is really nice to see consistent improvement," said head coach
Steve Greene. "Our ball control is becoming a strength and really opening up opportunities for our attackers after we get quality first and second touches on the ball."
On the week, the Islanders averaged a .310 hitting percentage while holding their opponents to a combined .158 mark. Junior
Kyndal Payne turned in an individual clip of a .407 off 58 kills while graduate
Belle Morgan ran the highly efficient offense with 132 assists.
Both are reigning SLC Players of the Week, with Payne taking home her first Offensive Player of the Week nod this season while Morgan secured her third Setter of the Week accolade.
Payne tops the league in kills at 233, kills per set at 3.82, total points at 261.5, and points per set at 4.29. She ranks ninth overall with a .293 hitting percentage while junior
Leah Stolfus ranks fourth at .338.
"Leah had a standout week last week and her mental game is reaching new heights. I'm looking forward to seeing her continue to shine this week," said Greene.
Morgan leads the Southland in assists with 579 as the only setter to record over 500 assists this season.
In conference play, junior
Kayla White is averaging 4.63 digs/set to rank fourth while sophomore
Zoria Heard turns in a 3.44/set mark which is good for eighth in the league.
As a team, the Islanders lead the league in overall kills per set (13.90), opponent assists per set (10.73), and opponent service aces (69). In conference play, the Islanders also top the ranks in digs per set (18.50) and assists per set (16.38).
Northwestern State is coming off a tough week that saw both of their conference losses, losing to A&M-Commerce in five sets before dropping a 3-0 decision to HCU most recently. Though, Ashlyn Svoboda joined Morgan and Payne in the weekly awards being named Defensive Player of the Week after averaging over five digs per set. She ranks right behind White with a 4.29 digs/set mark in SLC play.
Last year at Northwestern State, Payne set the program record for most kills in a match with 28 as the Islanders won the 3-2 decision. The last time the teams met was in the quarterfinals of the 2022 SLC Championships where the Lady Demons ended on top of that five-setter.
A&M-Commerce has garnered conference wins over Lamar, Northwestern State, and New Orleans this year in addition to a huge nonconference upset over Alabama. The Lions are led offensively by Deja Benjamin with a .313 hitting percentage while Jade Smith leads the team defense with 275 digs (4.23/set).
The Islanders are tied in the all-time record with Northwestern State, each team beating the other 12 times. A&M-Corpus Christi faced the Lions for the first time last season, taking both meetings for a 2-0 all-time advantage.
Stay Social
For more information on Islanders Volleyball, follow the team on Twitter (
@IslandersVB), Instagram (
@islandersvb) and like their Facebook page (
Islanders Volleyball).
#ShakasUp
