CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Making its final stretch towards the SLC Championships, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team will close out the conference slate with a pair of home matches when it hosts Northwestern State Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Dugan Wellness Center.
Thursday's match will be presented by Domino's. Senior Day will be held on Saturday, where the match will feature a special pregame presentation honoring seniors
Belle Morgan and
McKenna Reiswig.
The Islanders (19-9, 14-2 SLC) will be looking for at least one more win to secure a double bye in the SLC Championships, which they will host Nov. 16-19 in the Dugan Wellness Center. It would be the second time in three years that A&M-Corpus Christi earned a bye straight to the semifinals of the tournament.
A&M-Corpus Christi is also on pace to posting its first 20-win season since 2016, when head coach
Steve Greene led the program to a 24-8 overall record in his first year at the helm. Since then, he has become the program's all-time win leader after surpassing Tony Graystone (09-15) with 126 wins back on Oct. 14. He is now at 132 wins with the Islanders.
Nearing the end of the season, the Islanders have multiple players leading the ranks among Southland opponents. Junior
Leah Stolfus is hitting a league-best .414 hitting percentage against conference members, while junior
Kyndal Payne ranks seventh with a .318 mark.
Payne also leads SLC play with 4.22 kills per set while ranking second in points (238) and points per set (4.67). She is ranked 31
st nationally in total kills with 374 on the year and 44
th in total points with 419.0.
Morgan ranks first among Southland setters with a 12.11 assists per set average. On the year, she has recorded nearly 300 more assists than the second leading setter in the league to rank 16
th national for her 1,012 assists. She is also ranked 22
nd among NCAA setters with her 10.54 assists/set season average.
As a team, the Islanders rank 6
th in the nation in total kills (1,415) and kills per set (14.29). They lead the league in both as well as team hitting percentage (.294) and kills (815) in SLC play.
Northwestern State (13-14, 9-7 SLC) has locked in the No. 5 seed for the tournament. The Lady Demons are led offensively by Teresa Garza who is averaging 3.08 kills/set against Southland members. Reaghan Thompson is also a key player, an SLC Defensive Player of the Week selection who leads the league in blocks with 146 on the year.
A&M-Commerce (9-20m 5-11 SLC) has clinched a berth in the SLC Championships but is still fighting for seeding as we enter the final week of play. Jade Smith turns in a 5.54 digs/set average to rank second in SLC play, picking up 277 digs against conference members.
The Islanders defeated both teams already this season, defeating the Lady Demons in a five-set thriller in Natchitoches before topping the Lions 3-1 at their place. A&M-Corpus Christi is undefeated against Commerce and holds a 13-12 edge in the all-time record over Northwestern State.
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