CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – In a close 3-2 decision, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beach volleyball team ended on top over Stephen F. Austin on day one of the Conni & Jay Wise Islander Classic at Water's Edge Park.
After securing the inaugural SLC regular season championship last weekend, the Islanders (16-8) kept the momentum going and garnered the 3-2 win over SFA (2-14) to open their home tournament, improving to a perfect 6-0 in the all-time record over the Lumberjacks.
Sophomore
Kela Moreno and redshirt junior
Shea Slusser, the reigning SLC Pair of the Week, opened the day with a straight set win at court five. Also downing SFA 2-0 was the pair of junior
Tori Johnson and sophomore
Jade Bennett at the No. 3 spot to help the Islanders go up 2-1 over SFA.
At flight two, freshman
Kristin Bobay and graduate
Chloe Tome clinched the match after battling out the three-set victory 21-17, 19-21, and 15-9.
The Islanders have now won six of their last eight matches, only dropping to #4 Florida State and #5 LSU. Though, one of the six victories came against #17 Arizona for the program's first ever win over a top-20 opponent.
A&M-Corpus Christi will face HCU at 9 a.m. before closing out the weekend with a 1 p.m. match against Texas A&M-Kingsville on Saturday. The win over SFA starts the weekend of celebration as the Islanders will honor its seniors and be presented the championship trophy prior to the match against Kingsville at approximately 12:30 p.m.
The seniors being honored are Slusser,
Ashlyn Power,
Kiley Lewis,
Giuliana Poletti Corrales, and
Carissa Barnes.
A&M-Corpus Christi 3, SFA 2
1. Morrow, Madison/Ogden, Hannah (SFA) def. Poletti Corrales, Giuliana/Lewis, Kiley (AMCC) 21-19, 10-21, 15-11
2. Tome, Chloe/Bobay, Kristin (AMCC) def. Culver, Chloe/Bennett, Natalie (SFA) 21-17, 19-21, 15-9
3. Johnson, Tori/Bennett, Jade (AMCC) def. Duhon, Olivia/Hall, Madison (SFA) 22-20, 21-7
4. Johnson, Kelly/Elder, Abigail (SFA) def. Doyle, Hannah/Fernandes De Melo, Maria Duda (AMCC) 16-21, 21-18, 15-13
5. Moreno, Kela/Slusser, Shea (AMCC) def. Erwin, Rylee/Sherman, Toby (SFA) 21-17, 21-10
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