THIBODAUX, La. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team got Southland Conference play started on the right foot on Wednesday morning, kicking off its slate with a big road victory over Nicholls by a final tally of 3-1 (25-19, 13-25, 25-20, 25-17).
The victory for the Islanders (3-9, 1-0 SLC) was spurred by an improved attack, as they posted a hitting percentage of .223 that was their best since they reached a blistering .343 in their last win on September 12 against Tarleton State. They also surpassed the Colonels (7-7, 0-1 SLC) in many other categories as well, outpacing them 53-45 in kills, 7-5 in aces, 9-5 in blocks and 55-42 in digs.
A&M-Corpus Christi was led by an excellent day from
Kenna Buchanan, who led the way in both kills and digs with 15 and 13 respectively to finish with a double-double, her second of the season to date.
Tatum Mason finished right behind her with nine kills, and tied at seven apiece were
Hadley Burger and
Erin Herrmann, with the pair doing so on hitting percentages of .500 and .429.
Virginia Van Der Werff helped set up the offense with a season-high 42 assists while pitching in four kills herself, and
Brooklyn Jaeger and
Madison Morrow joined Buchanan on the backline with 12 and 11 digs respectively.
The Islanders started the day off about as well as possible, as after surrendering the very first point of the match, they ripped off seven in a row thanks to a pair of aces from Buchanan and kills from her, Van Der Werff and
Logan Dyer. Nicholls did bounce back after this and eventually retook the lead at 12-11, but the visitors once again caught fire in response, scoring seven of the next 10 to get the advantage back before eventually building it up to five at its highest point. After struggling to close throughout Tuesday's match at Southern, they had no such issues in the opening set, scoring four of the final five points on kills from Dyer, Buchanan and Mason to secure the 25-19 triumph.
The lone hiccup from A&M-Corpus Christi came in the second set, when it was blitzed by a red-hot attack from Nicholls to the tune of a .441 hitting percentage, easily the best of the day for the hosts. The Islanders first found themselves in a bind after surrendering a six-point run early on in the set, and after a brief response following this, the Colonels shut it down with another swing to eventually go up by double-digits. A few late kills helped bring the score a little closer, but they eventually fell 25-13.
The third set was easily the most competitive of the day, as the two squads played to eight ties and four different lead changes throughout, most of which came in the early goings all the way up until the media timeout, where the Islanders led 15-14. The biggest separation came shortly after this when A&M-Corpus Christi went on a 5-1 run spearheaded by Herrmann and Burger, which ended up giving the team some breathing room with at 20-17. Like in the opener, it ended up sealing the deal very nicely, reaching set point six rallies later and then locking things down with a nicely struck hit from Buchanan that brought the set count to 2-1.
Now on the brink of victory, the Islanders once again found a rhythm in the next period, responding after a brief back-and-forth with a 7-0 run headed by a balanced attack to take control of things early on. This lead would later be supplemented by a five-point run after the break to put them up by eight, which gave them all the room they needed to secure the match victory on back-to-back aces from Morrow to cap things off.
The Islanders will now return back to Corpus Christi for their first home conference match on Saturday, taking on McNeese at the Dugan Wellness Center at 1 p.m.
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