SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Gearing up for the second week of conference play, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team will play two midweek matches on the road starting with UIW on Tuesday before facing HCU on Thursday.
Tuesday night's matchup is set for 6 p.m. in the McDermott Center while Thursday's will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Sharp Gym. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.
"We are looking forward to these next two road matches," said head coach
Steve Greene. "UIW and HCU are both tough opponents and well-coached."
The Islanders (6-8, 1-1 SLC) are coming off opening week of SLC play where they split at home, sweeping Lamar in the conference opener before dropping a tough match to Southeastern. In the latter, graduate
Belle Morgan surpassed the 2,000-career assist milestone and sophomore
Kendall Mahaney passed the 1,000-career dig mark.
In the matches, A&M-Corpus Christi turned in more kills than both opponents to average 15.67 per set compared to a combined 13.33/set mark. The Islanders also out-dug both for a 131 to 118 ratio on the week.
"We have been steadily improving but also left a few winnable points on the table here and there during matches. As we learn to capitalize on each and every opportunity, we will start to see what we are capable of. Our setting and overall defense is beginning to shine and when it does, I am excited for how good we will be," said Greene.
Sophomore
Rylee Achtzehn led the Islanders with 24 kills last week after turning in her season-high 16 against Southeastern to lead the match. On the season, junior
Kyndal Payne has turned in the team-high 175 kills (3.42/set) to second the league. She ranks first in points per set at 3.94.
Defensively, junior
Kayla White ranks fourth in the league with 3.88 digs/set and 0.32 service aces/set. In conference play, White and sophomore
Zoria Heard rank in the top-three with 5.50 digs/set and 5.17 digs/set, respectively.
As a team, the Islanders lead the Southland in kills per set (13.35), opponent assists/set (10.88), opponent kills/set (12.27), opponent service aces (63), and opponent digs/set (13.94).
The Cardinals (8-6, 0-2 SLC) were one of two Southland schools to finish the nonconference with a winning record. They are currently second in the league in points per set (16.56) and third in hitting percentage (.223) with Annamarie Alvarez leading every hitter with a .466 individual mark.
The Huskies (7-7, 2-0 SLC) were favored in the SLC preseason poll after winning the regular season last year. They lead the league in digs (909) and opponent hitting percentage (.195) with Kaley Feris averaging a conference-best 4.46 digs/set. They have two 3-0 victories in conference already over Nicholls and UIW.
The Islanders are 18-1 against the Cardinals, and 16-7 against the Huskies. A&M-Corpus Christi has a winning record at both gyms as the visitor.
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