CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team returned home to the Dugan Wellness Center tonight to face Lamar in Southland Conference play. The Islanders took the opening set, but the Cardinals got the better of them in the remaining sets as they fell 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-23).

Their second straight defeat drops the Islanders to 6-12 overall and to 4-3 in SLC play while Lamar moves to 6-14 on the season and 3-4 in conference play. Virginia Van Der Werff ran the show for the Islanders, finishing a dig shy of a triple-double. She had a career-high 13 kills, 39 assists, and nine digs. Erin Herrmann had another strong night as she finished with 11 kills while hitting .550 for the match. As a team, Lamar outhit the home side, .316 to .219.

The Islanders started off strong in the opening set, taking it 25-23. The lead went back and forth throughout, but it was the Islanders who pulled away after the set was tied at 19. The home side had a balanced attack as five players had over three kills in the set, but it was Ally Saleh who led the way with six kills in the first. 

Lamar controlled much of the second, and they pulled away in the middle of the set to level the match 1-1. Kaitlyn Aleshire led the Islanders with four kills in the set, but they struggled to contain the Cardinals' attack as they hit .417 as a team in the second set and went on to win 25-18.

The final two sets were battled down right to the end in both, but it was the visitors who were able to come out with the upper hand. Van Der Werff became more aggressive late as the match hung in the balance, as eight of her team-high 13 kills came in the final two sets. As a team, the Islanders hit just over .200 in the final two sets while Lamar hit at .316 and .273 to close the match out. The Cardinals had a much larger presence at the net defensively, as they finished with 13 blocks on the night while TAMUCC had just one. They also won the battle at the service line, with 10 aces to the Islanders' three.

The Islanders slip down the Southland Conference standings into a tie for fifth with the defeat. They will have a chance to split on the week as they are back in action on Saturday against a strong Stephen F. Austin side that is 5-2 in league play but fell tonight 3-1 at top side UTRGV.

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