HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Gearing up for the official start of the 2023 season, The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team will play three matches in two days in the Bearkat Invitational, hosted by Sam Houston at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
The 2023 campaign begins Friday at 11:30 a.m. when the Islanders take on the University of Portland, followed by a 4:30 p.m. match with Oral Roberts. A&M-Corpus Christ will then close out opening weekend with a matchup against host Sam Houston at 4 p.m. Saturday, which will be streamed live on ESPN+.
"Our team is really looking forward to our first weekend of competition," said head coach
Steve Greene. "We were able to work through some challenging situations last week at our exhibition match with Texas and are looking to continue improving this weekend.
"Our defense will be very important this weekend as we compete against three very different teams with different offensive styles. [Assistant coach]
Kristin Watson has done an amazing job preparing our defenders and team defense these last couple weeks. This is a great opportunity to showcase all the hard work our team has put in during preseason. As we enter the nonconference phase of our season, we will be focused on consistent improvement match to match."
The Islanders are coming out of preseason that featured a five-set exhibition match against the defending national champions of Texas where they showed depth in putting multiple rotations on the court. They played all 18 available student-athletes and suited up three different liberos while 10 different players registered a kill against the No. 1 Longhorns. Junior
Kyndal Payne led the way with 12 herself.
Payne, a preseason SLC First-Team selection, is coming off an impressive sophomore season that saw her post 4.91 kills per set and 5.39 points per set which both topped the conference to earn her SLC Player of the Year. Payne continued to rack up the accolades, becoming AVCA All-Region and All-American status.
Other staple returners include freshman
Tayah Little and preseason First-Team honoree
Leah Stolfus, both middle blockers. Stolfus was the conference's most efficient hitter last season with a .389 mark while Little led the team in blocks at 70. In the back row, junior
Kayla White and sophomore
Zoria Heard return as vital parts of the defense. White averaged 1.53 digs/set while Heard averaged 2.33 per set last season.
The Islanders also have 11 new faces this season for a 19-man roster, the largest since 2012. The newcomers are made up of five freshman and six transfers, including graduate students
Belle Morgan and
Morgan Smith who will bring veteran experience to the court after having successful careers at their previous universities.
It will be A&M-Corpus Christi's second ever meeting with Portland and fifth against Oral Roberts. The Islanders and familiar foe Sam Houston will square up for the 45
th time in program history.
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