CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team put on a show in its home opener, taking down North Florida in a thrilling 3-2 (25-11, 16-25, 25-22, 16-25, 15-5) victory Thursday night in the first match of the Islanders Classic, presented by Schlotzsky's, in the Dugan Wellness Center.
The Islanders (1-3) finally secured their first win of the season with the five-setter over the Ospreys (2-3) to also open up their home slate. It was capped by a first and fifth set that had the Islanders hitting well over .500 in both.
A&M-Corpus Christi posted an error-less first set to quickly go up 1-0 after 14 kills paved a .538 hitting percentage out of the gate. North Florida managed to settle in and take the next one 25-16 before the Islanders strung together an out-of-system rally to take the third in dramatic fashion 25-22.
The Ospreys would once again even the match with another 25-16 set as the teams headed to the deciding fifth. It was all Islanders from there, however, as they jumped out with an 8-0 scoring run and never looked back. 11 of their 15 points in the fifth came off kills as they finished off the night with a .625 hitting mark in the final set while keeping North Florida in the negatives through the decider.
Seniors
Kyndal Payne and
Leah Stolfus led the match in kills with 19 and 18, respectively. Junior
Tori Arrington joined them in double figures adding 10 kills herself as all three recorded their season-highs. Stolfus was 3.0 points away from matching her career-high of 26.0 set in 2022 against Northwestern State.
Stolfus did, however, set a new career-high in aces as the middle blocker was feeling it from the service line to record four on the night. It was two more than her previous best, set three times formerly.
A&M-Corpus Christi's offense finished hitting .272 on the night with three different setters aiding in running that mark. Graduate
Alex Hoglund headed the way with 38 assists and added two kills, nine digs, and a block to her stat line.
Senior
Kayla White suited up as libero once again and turned in her first 20+ dig performance of the season with 22 in the match. She has picked up at least 10 digs in three of the four matches so far this year.
Defending on the front row was notably sophomore
Katelyn Krienke who finished with five blocks. She is the first Islander to record five blocks in a match this year and first to do so since October of last year. Arrington also added three blocks, all solo.
It is the first time since Sept. 7 of last season that the Islanders recorded 10+ blocks in a match when they garnered10.5 against Prairie View. Every set-point by A&M-Corpus Christi tonight was won on a block.
It was only the second-ever meeting between the two programs, with the Islanders improving to 2-0 over the Ospreys in the first meeting since 2011.
Continuing in their home tournament, the Islanders will next face Jacksonville State tomorrow night at 5p.m. before closing out the weekend on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Texas Southern.
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