CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Capping an undefeated weekend in its home tournament, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beach volleyball team took down HCU and Texas A&M-Kingsville both in 4-1 decisions in addition to celebrating five seniors and being presented with the SLC Regular Season trophy on Saturday at Water's Edge Park.
After the Islanders (18-8) started the morning off with a 4-1 win over HCU (12-11), the program honored
Ashlyn Power,
Giuliana Poletti Corrales,
Carissa Barnes,
Shea Slusser, and
Kiley Lewis in a special senior day recognition. Prior to defeating A&M-Kingsville (9-13) 4-1, A&M-Corpus Christi was also presented with the SLC Regular Season Trophy after winning the inaugural title with a perfect 6-0 record in league play this year.
It marks the second championship in two years for the Islanders who won the 2022 SLC Tournament for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Although the day's match against HCU does not count towards conference, the Islanders have now won 26 consecutive regular season matches against SLC opponents dating back to 2019.
Slusser and sophomore
Kela Moreno got it done early in both matches, taking down the Huskies and the Javelinas in straight sets. They have now won nine matches in a row as a pair.
Also undefeated on the day was the duo of sophomore
Jade Bennett and junior
Tori Johnson who won the deciding point in each match at court three. They set down HCU 21-15, 21-12 before grinding out the three-set victory over Kingsville.
Freshman
Kristin Bobay and graduate
Chloe Tome outlasted both teams in three sets to go 2-0 at the No. 2 spot.
The Islanders have now won eight of their last ten matches, only dropping to #4 Florida State and #5 LSU. Though, one of the eight victories came against #17 Arizona for the program's first ever win over a top-20 opponent.
Next week, A&M-Corpus Christi will compete in its regular season finale at the TCU Tournament. Then, the Islanders will look to defend its SLC Tournament title at home as the No. 1 seed as they will return to Water's Edge Park to host the 2023 SLC Championships April 21-23.
A&M-Corpus Christi 4, HCU 1
1. Stanfill, Alison/Butters, Maddie (HCU) def. Poletti Corrales, Giuliana/Lewis, Kiley (AMCC) 21-17, 22-20
2. Tome, Chloe/Bobay, Kristin (AMCC) def. Kleymeyer, Kristen/Harris, Lindsay (HCU) 22-20, 18-21, 15-12
3. Johnson, Tori/Bennett, Jade (AMCC) def. Bufkin, Abbey/Alper, Mary (HCU) 21-15, 21-12
4. Doyle, Hannah/Fernandes De Melo, Maria Duda (AMCC) def. Reinard, Abbey/Palmer, Paige (HCU) 21-16, 27-25
5. Moreno, Kela/Slusser, Shea (AMCC) def. O'Neal, Shelby/Axelrod, Gabi (HCU) 21-15, 21-12
A&M-Corpus Christi 4, A&M-Kingsville 1
1. Poletti Corrales, Giuliana/Lewis, Kiley (AMCC) def. Pollard, Rylan/VanBrunt, Adrienne (TAMUK) 21-17, 21-10
2. Bobay, Kristin/Tome, Chloe (AMCC) def. Anderson, Rylie/Wallace, Madelyn (TAMUK) 21-14, 24-26, 15-7
3. Johnson, Tori/Bennett, Jade (AMCC) def. Gettys, Grace/Zeigler, Olivia (TAMUK) 17-21, 21-13, 15-11
4. Vasquez, Kalani/Stieger, Meghan (TAMUK) def. Fernandes de Melo, Duda/Doyle, Hannah (AMCC) 21-18, 22-20
5. Slusser, Shea/Moreno, Kela (AMCC) def. McCarthy, Taylor/Alanis, Jackie (TAMUK) 21-18, 21-18
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