HOUSTON, Texas – Going into Sharp Gym to face the defending regular season champions, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team won three straight sets after dropping the first to defeat HCU 3-1 Thursday night to complete an unbeaten road week.
Despite the Islanders (8-8, 3-1 SLC) leading 19-13 in the first set, HCU (8-8, 3-1 SLC) powered a 12-4 scoring run to win the first set 25-23. The second set had the Islanders come from behind after finally taking a lead 12-11 and staying ahead the rest of the way for a 25-20 edge. Sets three and four had A&M-Corpus Christi holding the momentum to win by more each time, taking the third 25-18 and the fourth 25-15.
The Islanders held a huge statistical edge in nearly every category including kills (66-37), assists (58-33), and digs (75-55) as multiple juniors stepped up in big ways for career performances, including
Leah Stolfus,
Kayla White, and
Morgan Baese.
"I am so proud of our total team performance tonight," said head coach
Steve Greene. "HCU is a very well-rounded team and very well-coached, so we had to keep our focus and intensity throughout the match. Our bench made it feel like we were the home team during scoring runs, and that was so key to our energy level and efforts."
Junior
Kyndal Payne turned in her second 20+ kill performance in a row, converting on 21 of her 44 attempts to hit for a .364 clip. She was one of three Islanders to hit in double figures alongside Stolfus (16) and Baese (14).
Baese came off the bench for the double-figure performance, which marked just her second time in her career to record 10+ kills in a match. The night also featured Stolfus's first career double-double after she picked up 11 digs in addition to her 16 kills.
"
Morgan Baese was amazing coming off the bench and making a huge impact. She has been working so hard and I'm so happy for her that it is paying off for her and our team.
"Leah turned in on in set two and started playing at a whole new level. She was seeing the court so well and was making such smart decisions," said Greene.
Graduate
Belle Morgan ran the offense to the 66 kills (.241), dishing out 53 of the team's 58 assists. The 53 assists mark her season-high for a four-set match. It comes right after she set her season-high in a three-set match (44) at UIW Tuesday.
Morgan has been the match-leader in assists in every conference match this year.
"Belle really took control of certain runs of points tonight. She ran the offense at a really nice pace and started to show off her attacking skills as well. She is showing what a great setter she is and how to take control of a match," Greene said.
White joined in with a career performance, leading the match with her all-time best 25 digs. Payne joined Stolfus in the double-double category with 17 digs herself. At the net, sophomore
Rylee Achtzehn led the Islanders with three blocks as A&M-Corpus Christi's defense held the Huskies to only 37 kills (.116) on the night.
"Kayla was phenomenal as Libero tonight. Her serving and passing was second to none, and her reads on defense were at such a high level. I was so pleased to see her really make the Libero position her own.
"Kyndal put together one of her best all-around matches tonight. She was so focused and dialed in on each and every point. She was also able to take feedback and make changes point to point and really step up in pressure situations," said Greene.
HCU, the SLC preseason favorite, was on a 15-match home-winning streak and had not dropped a single set to a Southland opponent this season prior to tonight. The Islanders have now won two straight conference matches after sweeping UIW Tuesday to go 2-0 on the road this week.
The Islanders will close out their busy week of conference play at home. They will look to go undefeated on the week when they host McNeese on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the Dugan Wellness Center.
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