CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The 2023 season came to a close for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team after a tough 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-18) defeat to Southeastern Sunday in the SLC championship match.
The No. 2 Islanders (22-10, 16-2), who earned a double bye into the semifinals where the swept No. 3 McNeese to advance to the finals, couldn't contain the regular season champions of the No. 1 Lady Lions (28-7, 17-1 SLC) to fall in three. It concluded a 22-10 season for the Islanders, their first 20+ season since head coach
Steve Greene's first year at the helm in 2016.
"The season didn't end the way we wanted but I am proud of the efforts we gave even when things weren't going our way," said Greene. "Even when down two sets and down big in set three, we kept coming back and giving ourselves a chance. That level of desire and effort is all we can ever hope for and when it comes out while dealing with adversity, it shows our teams' true character."
Junior
Leah Stolfus, an All-Conference First-Team selection, showed her depth with a team-leading 12 kills from the middle and outside positions. Off 34 attempts, she turned in a .235 hitting percentage in the match.
SLC Setter of the Year graduate
Belle Morgan's turned in 31 assists, five kills, three digs, one block, and one service ace in her final match of her collegiate career. She was named to the SLC All-Tournament team alongside Stolfus.
Junior
Kyndal Payne, the SLC Player of the Year, registered eight kills and nine digs while sophomore
Rylee Achtzehn attacked for six kills. Junior
Kayla White, an All-Conference Second-Team honoree, co-led the match with 12 digs.
Achtzehn opened the match with the hard shot before Stolfus kept us tied at 2-2 with the kill. The Lady Lions would pull ahead 13-7 before a three-point spurt got the Islanders to 10 following a pair of kills by Stolfus. Though, Southeastern would maintain some space and despite Morgan getting through for the kill to make it a 19-17 score, the Lady Lions finished on a 6-1 run to take the first set 25-18.
The Islanders fell behind 6-0 in the second set before Payne drove one hard across court to break the drought. Southeastern continued to stay ahead and Achtzehn tried to keep it close after her kill made it 17-14, but the Lady Lions created even more separation to go up 21-14. The Islanders tried clawing back and fended off set point twice for a late push to get to 20, but Southeastern closed out a 25-20 set two.
Southeastern started out hot again in the third to go up 5-0 until Stolfus finally got through for the kill. A pair of service aces from sophomore
Zoria Heard helped put the Islanders back into fighting position down just 14-12. The momentum would be cut short, however, as the Lady Lions got up to 24-17. Stolfus held off the conclusion of the match with a final kill for the Islanders but Southeastern emerged with a 25-18 win.
It was the first of their five all-time appearances in the championship match that the Islanders didn't end on top, after winning the title in 2015, 2016, 2020, and 2021. They move to 15-8 all-time in the Southland Conference Tournament and 10-5 under Greene.
Stolfus, for the second year in a row, came in at number one in the program's single season record of hitting percentage with a .361 mark, breaking her last year's performance of a .355. Her career hitting percentage improved to a .345 which puts her at the top of the program's career record.
Payne improved on her career kill/set average from a 3.69 to a 3.78 following the season, helping her stay in second in the program record book, behind Emma Ridley's (09-10) 4.13 mark. Her 427 kills this year ranks fourth in the single-season record, but adds to her career total of 1,250 which ranks her second all-time.
Morgan's sole season with the Islanders proved to be a breakthrough for her in her final year, turning in 1,160 assists to become the program's first setter since 2015 to record over 1,100 assists in a single season. It was the first season in her career to average over 10.0 assists/set (10.74).
On the year, A&M-Corpus Christi led the league in attack percentage (.291), total kills (915), kills per set (15.51), total assists (846), and assists per set (14.34).
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