Box Score CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team took care of business in the penultimate game of the 2024 regular season, defeating Houston Christian in straight sets (25-18, 25-22, 25-19) on Thursday at the Dugan Wellness Center.
The victory was the second in a row for the Islanders (16-10, 11-4 SLC), who have returned to their winning ways after seeing a previous 10-game streak snapped at the beginning of the month. It was also the team's 10
th home win in as many games this season and its first win over the Huskies (11-14, 8-6 SLC) in 2024 after falling to them in late September.
The Islanders came out strong in the first set, jumping out to a quick 8-2 lead on the strength of a pair of kills from senior
Kyndal Payne and one apiece from seniors
Rylee Achtzehn and
Tori Arrington. A quick counterpunch brought the Huskies back even at nine, but after this, A&M-Corpus Christi locked back in, taking seven of the next eight points and cruising to a 25-18 set win.
The second set was the most competitive of the night, as the two teams traded points to the tune of two lead changes and nine different tied scores. In the end, however, it was the Islanders who finally ended up creating some distance, starting with a big kill from Arrington to put the team up 18-16. From here, the home team pulled away for good, earning seven of 11 points and wrapping things up on a kill from Payne to take the commanding lead in the match.
This momentum carried over for the Islanders, who led wire-to-wire throughout the next set on their way to the clean-sweep victory. A&M-Corpus Christi's hitting was what carried it to the finish line, with the group recording a whopping 18 kills in the third and shooting at a very good mark of .359.
The Islanders shared the love on the attack, having six different players record a kill and four of them reach at least eight. Payne led the way in this department with 12, and she was followed closely behind by senior
Leah Stolfus, Achtzehn and Arrington and 10, nine and eight respectively. Graduate
Alex Hoglund set these hitters up very nicely all night, reaching 42 assists for the second game in a row, and on the defensive side, Achtzehn and junior
Kaitlyn Baumann both paced the team with three blocks each.
The Islanders will now wrap up the 2024 regular season in their next contest, closing things out against UIW on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at the Dugan Wellness Center.
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