LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team could not get on the board in its second match of the Lucky Aces Invitational in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon, showing some improvements on the opener but still falling to UCLA in three sets, 15-25, 16-25, 15-25.
The Islanders (2-7) were better on the defensive side of things than they were on Friday against Hawaii, holding the Bruins (8-2) to a hitting percentage of .378 after the Rainbow Wāhine posted a clip of .471. Like the day before, though, they struggled to get their own offense going consistently, tallying 26 kills while committing 22 errors on 91 total attacks for a .044 hitting percentage.
Despite the defeat, the team did see a bit of history on Saturday, with libero
Brooklyn Jaeger recording the 1000
th dig of her decorated collegiate career with her fifth of the day in the first set. The reigning Southland Conference Libero of the Year accomplished the feat in her 69
th career match, as after missing her first year on campus due to injury, she made up for the lost time with 305 in 2024 and 570 in 2025, setting her up for the milestone moment today.
The opening set for the Islanders started well enough, as they ended up going back and forth with the Bruins through the first 11 rallies while seeing a pair of kills from
Kenna Buchanan and one each from
Tatum Mason and
Ava Hight. UCLA gained some distance with a 4-0 run after this, but A&M-Corpus Christi responded nicely, getting itself back to within two soon after with a pair of kills from
Kaitlyn Aleshire and another by Buchanan. The team could not get in any closer, however, only managing four points the rest of the way to drop the opener.
This momentum from UCLA rolled over into the next period, with the Islanders falling into a 9-5 hole to kick things off. Like in the opener, they played their best in the middle portion of the set, fighting back to bring the score up to 14-12 at its closest off the strength of two kills by
Ally Saleh, one from Mason and a service ace by Aleshire. Also in similar fashion to the start of Saturday, though, the Bruins caught fire from here, earning eight of the final 11 points to pull away and make it a 2-0 hole for the blue and green.
The best stretch of play for A&M-Corpus Christi came at the beginning of the third set, when the team raced out to a 9-6 advantage thanks to two kills from Buchanan and a kill and an ace from
Hadley Burger to kick things off. A quick UCLA run erased this lead, but the Islanders stayed close, capitalizing on some errors to go into the media timeout down just 15-12. Out of the break, the Bruins flexed their muscle once again, ripping off five straight points to put them on the doorstep and then three more in a row to send the Islanders away with the loss.
For the second day in a row, it was Buchanan who led the team in kills, with the senior tallying eight after recording the same amount against Hawaii. Setting up the offense was Hight with 13 assists and
Virginia Van Der Werff with eight in her second match back from injury, and holding down the defense was Jaeger with a match-high 12 digs.
The Islanders will now try to salvage a win in their final contest in Las Vegas on Sunday, returning for one final match against Iowa State at 1:30 p.m. CT.
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