AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team saw their 2024 season come to an end on Thursday evening, falling to No. 3 Texas on the road in Austin in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The loss wrapped up another incredibly successful year from the program, as the team managed to reach a number of significant achievements since the season began back in August. The run to the NCAA Tournament marked the fifth appearance in the big dance for the Islanders, and the first since the 2021 season when they took down McNeese in the Southland Conference Championship before bowing out against Baylor in the first round. They also broke the 20-win mark for the sixth time in program history, doing so in back-to-back years after reaching 22 victories in 2023.
The opening set of Thursday's contest did not go according to plan for the Islanders (20-11), as the Longhorns (19-6) started their title defense out hot by jumping out to a quick 11-4 lead on the strength of a 5-0 run. The hosts did not let up the pressure from here, either, winning seven of nine points after this to put A&M-Corpus Christi into a deeper hole en route to taking the set by a tally of 25-11.
Shaking off some of the nerves from the opening set, the Islanders came out stronger to start the next one, trading points with Texas for much of the early goings and heading into a timeout down by only four. The Longhorns managed to take four out of five points on the other side of the stoppage to once again put the Islanders on the back foot, but the team responded with its best stretch of the game, ripping off five straight points to bring the score up to 21-20. This run started with a kill from junior
Tori Arrington, and after back-to-back errors from Texas, seniors
Kyndal Payne and
Leah Stolfus punctuated things with kills of their own to bring A&M-Corpus Christi on the doorstep of taking their first-ever NCAA Tournament set. Unfortunately for the Islanders, though, they could not finish the job after this, fighting off one set point before conceding the next to drop the period by a razor-thin margin of 25-23.
The third and final frame proved to be where Texas flexed its might, as after graduate
Alex Hoglund put the Islanders in front 1-0, the Longhorns caught fire to the tune of eight consecutive points and 13 out of 15 to take a commanding lead once again. A&M-Corpus Christi showed some fight after the early onslaught, nabbing two kills from Payne and one apiece from Arrington, sophomore
Kaitlyn Baumann and junior
Rylee Achtzehn, but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome, with Texas wrapping things up in the set 25-12 and securing the 3-0 decision.
Leading the way for A&M-Corpus Christi was Payne, who paced the team with eight kills while also picking up four digs and a block. This proved to be the bow on top of a historic career for the Haslet, Texas native, as she finishes her time with the Islanders ranked first in program history in kills (1,658) and total attacks (4,209), second in kills per set (3.80) and solo blocks (96), sixth in digs (1,132) and eighth in total blocks (192).
Beyond Payne, the Islanders also saw great performances from Stolfus and Hoglund in their final games with the team, with the former picking up four kills of her own and the latter leading the team in assists with 25 while also tallying five digs as well. Stolfus wraps up her career with A&M-Corpus Christi at the very top of the career hitting percentage leaderboard at a mark of .352, and Hoglund managed to reach third place in all-time single season assists for the team with 1,205 in her lone campaign with the Islanders.
Head coach
Steve Greene concluded his ninth season at the helm of the program, reaching the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time since taking over in 2016. He continues to build his resume as the winningest coach in Islanders history, finishing 2024 with a record of 155-111 with the school.
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