HOUSTON, Texas – Heading back to familiar territory, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beach volleyball team is set to begin its season with the Third Coast College Classic on Saturday and Sunday, hosted by Houston Christian.
The Islanders will kick off at 9 a.m. Saturday against University of Alabama-Birmingham, followed by a 3 p.m. match against Central Arkansas. The weekend will conclude Sunday with 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. matches against #3 TCU and host HCU, respectively.
The tournament will be played at Third Coast Volleyball Club which is where the Islanders defeated HCU in the SLC Championship match to earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Beach Volleyball Tournament last year.
Head coach
Gayle Stammer begins her sixth year at the helm. She led the team to a perfect 11-0 record against SLC opponents last year and the program's first ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
A&M-Corpus Christi has won 19 consecutive regular season matches against SLC opponents dating back to 2019.
The Islanders were predicted to repeat their Southland success after being picked first in the conference's first-ever Preseason Poll for beach volleyball. It included seven first-place votes.
Four returners were named to the league's "Players to Watch" list. It recognized graduate student
Kiley Lewis, senior
Giuliana Poletti Corrales, and juniors
Tori Johnson and
Shea Slusser. All four were named to All-Conference Teams last season.
In addition to these four, the Islanders returned seven other players including sophomores Jade Bennet and
Kela Moreno who also both earned All-Conference honors last season. The team also amped up with four freshman, two transfers, and newcomer
Carissa Barnes who competed with A&M-Corpus Christi's indoor volleyball team the last four years.
The Islanders will be going for their first ever win over TCU. UAB is 4-1 all-time against A&M-Corpus Christi, though, the Islanders won last year's meeting 3-2. A&M-Corpus Christi is tied 3-3 with Central Arkansas and trails HCU 10-13 all-time but have won the last four meetings.
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