HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball program bounced back Friday afternoon with a 3-1 win over Oral Roberts after dropping 3-1 to Portland in the morning of opening day at the Bearkat Invitational.
The Islanders (1-1) relied heavily on the defensive side, out-defending Portland (1-1) 50-42 digs and Oral Roberts (0-1) 71-63. Junior
Kendall Mahaney led the team in digs in both matches with 11 and 21.
"I am really pleased with the overall effort and communication today," said head coach
Steve Greene. "It's very difficult to play back-to-back matches on the same day and it was really nice to see us make some positive changes after a tough loss to Portland in the morning.
"We did much better with overall team defense and ball-control against Oral Roberts.
Kendall Mahaney played great defense in both matches today and really made a couple outstanding plays.
Belle Morgan is doing an outstanding job learning to play with new teammates and run a new style of offense," said Greene.
Picking up where she left off last season, junior
Kyndal Payne showed off with 18 kills in the first match of the season and followed it up with a double-double of 16 kills and 15 digs in match two. She averaged 4.25 kills per set on the day.
In her debut as an Islander, graduate transfer
Belle Morgan stepped in an ran the offense in both matches, registering 58 assists on the day including a match-high 24 against Portland. Morgan also added 14 kills on the day as well as junior
Leah Stolfus.
All 18 available student-athletes saw time on the court. As a team, the Islanders turned in 93 kills, 18 aces, 121 digs, and 12 blocks on opening day.
MATCH ONE – Portland 3, A&M-Corpus Christi 1
Freshman
Reese Miller registered her first collegiate kill for the first point of the match going A&M-Corpus Christi's way. Portland responded with three quick points, but the Islanders tied it up with back-to-back kills by Stolfus and Morgan. Portland would pull ahead again and hold a 15-9 lead before A&M-Corpus Christi fueled an 8-1 scoring run to even it at 17 but the Pilots jumped out again for a 25-21 set one win.
Despite the Islanders taking a quick 5-0 lead capped by Mahaney's ace, set two featured the same final score to help Portland to a 2-0 advantage in the match.
Sophomore Riley Romero aided two of A&M-Corpus Christi's first three points of the third set as the teams remained locked at 3-all, though, the Islanders would go down 18-12. Overcoming the deficit, the Islanders fired back with eight consecutive points, half of which were courtesy of Payne. Sophomore
Tayah Little came up with the big solo block to give the Islanders a 20-18 lead as they went on to take set three 25-22 and force a fourth.
Morgan and Payne both tallied two kills to begin the fourth as the Islanders went up 7-3. However, the Pilots took nine of the next 10 points to take over the rest of the way. The kill by junior
Tori Arrington held off match point, but Portland closed out the 25-19 set four and 3-1 match win.
MATCH TWO – A&M-Corpus Christi 3, Oral Roberts 1
The teams stayed evened in the first set until the Islanders broke away 8-3 topped off by the ace by Morgan. A&M-Corpus Christi kept the offense hot and fired four kills to extend their lead to 13-4. Oral Roberts would not get within three from then on as kills by Payne and Stolfus and the solo block by Achtzehn closed out a 25-18 win.
The Golden Eagles stayed in it in the second as the team alternated points through a 16-16 tie. Oral Roberts took a more definitive lead 19-16 but Stolfus hammered down two kills to help the Islanders tie it up again. Down 22-19, A&M-Corpus Christi went on a 4-0 scoring run to regain a lead and the teams began exchanging points once more to force extra points. The kill by Little combined with an Oral Roberts error gave A&M-Corpus Christi the edge 29-27.
Set three featured another back-and-forth and despite Payne reaching her 10
th kill for her first double-double of the season, Oral Roberts ended on top 25-22 for make it a 2-1 match.
The kill by Little had the Islanders up 8-4 in the fourth and they never let it up as they closed out their first win of the season with a 25-17 set four and 3-1 match victory.
The Islanders will close out opening weekend Saturday with a 4 p.m. face-off with hosts Sam Houston. It will be the 45
th meeting between the two teams and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
"For tomorrow against Sam Houston, we are looking to continue to improve on being more efficient and controlled in some of our contacts and overall team play," Greene said.
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