MIAMI, Fla. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beach volleyball program will head to the sunshine state to take on more ranked opponents, first playing at #15 Florida International Thursday afternoon before competing in #13 Florida Atlantic's tournament on Friday and Saturday.
Play will begin Thursday at 3 p.m. when they Islanders (2-2) face FIU (3-2). A&M-Corpus Christi will then head down the road for matches against FAU (3-1) and Palm Beach Atlantic at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., respectively. The weekend in Florida will conclude on Saturday after the Islanders take on Southern Miss at 7:30 a.m. and Saint Leo University at 11:30 a.m.
The Islanders will be going for their first-ever win over a ranked opponent.
The Islanders are coming off a split opening weekend, where they garnered two 5-0 sweeps over Central Arkansas and conference-foe HCU. The win over HCU was the first conference matchup for the Islanders this year, who has now won 20 consecutive regular season matches against SLC opponents dating back to 2019.
Court five featured the pair of
Kela Moreno and
Shea Slusser in all four matches last weekend, where the duo posted a team-best 7-2 set record in Houston. They beat UAB, Central Arkansas and HCU in straight sets and even won a 21-12 set two against #3 TCU's fives before being edged out in set three.
On court one, graduate
Kiley Lewis and senior
Giuliana Poletti Corrales also went 3-1 on the weekend.
Slusser, Lewis and Corrales were all selected to the Southland Conference's "Players to Watch" list prior to the start of the season, along with junior
Tori Johnson who went 2-2 over opening weekend on court three with sophomore
Jade Bennett.
FIU leads the all-time series 1-0 over the Islanders, as the teams first met on the final day of the 2022 season. The Islanders dropped 4-1 to the Panthers, with Moreno and Slusser earning a win on court four. FAU also beat the Islanders 4-1 in 2018, the only other time the two teams have met.
It will be A&M-Corpus Christi's first-ever meetings with Palm Beach Atlantic and Saint Leo. The Islanders lead Southern Miss 2-0 in the all-time record, including notching a 3-2 win last season.
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