SAN ANTONIO – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team could not hang on in its match against UIW on Saturday afternoon, jumping out to an early lead but falling by a final of 3-2 after coming up short in the decisive fifth set.
The Islanders (7-11, 3-3 SLC) started out slow in the opening set, finding themselves in a 10-7 hole to open things up, but a run of seven consecutive points helped them not only take the lead but also open up a cushion to work with. From here, they were able to keep the Cardinals (9-9, 5-1 SLC) at arm's length en route to a 25-19 set win, maintaining the lead throughout and putting things away with a 5-0 run on the strength of two kills from freshman
Tatum Mason and one apiece from junior
Kenna Buchanan and freshman
Logan Dyer. This trio managed to pick up 14 of the 16 kills in the set in total, with Buchanan and Dyer leading the way with five and Mason tallying four.
This momentum rolled into the second period, as the Islanders won five points in a row and six of the first seven to once again get out in front of the hosts. After going up by as much as seven, though, UIW started its own rally, ripping off 11 of the next 12 points to take a 19-16 advantage. Now back trailing for the first time since the opening portion of the first set, A&M-Corpus Christi answered right back, stopping the run with a kill from sophomore
Virginia Van Der Werff and starting one of its own to bring the tally up to 22 apiece. Consecutive kills by senior
Kaitlyn Baumann and Mason brought the Islanders up to match point, where an attack error would put them up two sets to none.
The Islanders would once again take a quick lead in the third set behind some nice swings from senior
Katelyn Krienke and Dyer, but UIW would end up responding and pulling away, picking up 13 of the final 18 points to get on the board for the first time with a 25-15 win. The fourth set was more of a back-and-forth affair, with neither team taking more than a three-point lead and the score getting as close as 19-18 after a service ace from redshirt sophomore
Brooklyn Jaeger pulled the Islanders to within one. The Cardinals would again bring things to the finish line, though, securing three points in a row after this and taking home the period 25-20 to keep the afternoon going.
The fifth set was just as thrilling as the rest, with the two squads trading points one after the other all the way up to 5-5. UIW would finally string together multiple in a row for the first time in the period after this, and despite kills from Buchanan and Baumann to bring the Islanders back within one two separate times, the hosts were able to find the breaks they needed to take home the set 15-12 and complete the comeback effort.
Even with the loss, the Islanders managed to outperform the Cardinals in a couple different stats, hitting at a .263 clip and picking up 69 kills in total as opposed to marks of .239 and 57 from the hosts respectively. Individually, Krienke led the way by matching her season-high in kills with 15, and Buchanan came in right behind her with a new career-high of 14. Jaeger and Buchanan also managed to set new season-highs in digs with 23 and 19 respectively, and Van Der Werff orchestrated the offense with 45 assists, her sixth different time recording at least 40 on the year.
The Islanders will now try to get back in the win column in their next match, returning back home to host New Orleans on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Dugan Wellness Center.
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