CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team returned to play this afternoon as they hosted East Texas A&M in their regular season home finale. The Islanders took the opening set before dropping the next three, falling 3-1 (25-27, 25-16, 25-21, 27-25) and dropping their record to 9-16 and 7-7 in Southland Conference play.

Coming off a 3-1 win over Northwestern State on Thursday night, the Islanders got off to a quick start today against the Lions. They led 15-9 at the first media timeout, as they hit .244 as a team and recorded 19 kills as a team. Tatum Mason and Kenna Buchanan led the way as they had six and five kills, respectively, in the first set. The Islanders looked like they were cruising to a first set victory, but the Lions took five straight points late to tie the set at 24. Virginia Van Der Werff and Buchanana were able to put away back-to-back kills as Corpus Christi took an extended first set 27-25.

The Lions must have found something when they made that run in the first set, because it carried over to the second, where they hit .423. The Islanders improved their hitting percentage from set one to set two, but couldn't keep up with the visitors as they fell behind early and lost the set 25-16.

The two sides were back and forth in the third set, with the Islanders getting out to a lead early and then the Lions battling back to tie the set at 16. Corpus Christi had a balanced attack in the set as five different players recorded kills, led by Mason's three. East Texas A&M was able to execute best down the stretch, taking nine of the next fourteen points on their way to the set win.

The fourth set looked like it was controlled by the Islanders, as they led the majority of the way and were up 24-19 late. It was the duo of Mason and Buchanan who each had four kills and Erin Herrmann chipped in with three in the set. Just one point away from moving the match to a fifth set, the Islanders struggled with serve receive and allowed the Lions to win the next five points to tie the set and then take it 27-25.

Mason finished with 14 kills, while hitting over .400 in the match. Buchanan added 13 kills and Ally Saleh had 12 while Van Der Werff continued to run the show with 42 assists. Lauren Sandvold had a team-high 20 digs while Saleh had 13 and Van Der Werff added 10. After defeating East Texas A&M 3-1 at their place earlier this season, the Lions flipped the script in Corpus Christi and the sides split the season series.

The Islanders hit the road and travel to face Houston Christian on Thursday. Corpus Christi came away with a 3-0 win at home when the two sides bet on Oct. 1 earlier this season. 

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