NACOGDOCHES - The Texas A&M - Corpus
Christi volleyball team made history on Saturday afternoon,
becoming the first team in school history to record a win over
Stephen F. Austin with a 3-1 (28-26, 25-18, 18-25, 25-17) victory
over the Ladyjacks. Coming
into the match, the team was 0-7 against SFA in school history.
The Islanders improve to 7-10 on the year and
are now 1-3 in Southland play. The Ladyjacks are 8-11 overall and
have an identical 1-3 record in league play.
"We hope this is the match that gets us
going," said head coach Tony
Graystone. "This obviously feels good.
"You could see it coming for a while now.
We were playing well but
just coming up short."
Emma
Ridley paced the team with a school record 26 kills in a
four-set match and was one off of her overall team record of 27
kills in a match set last year against Sam Houston State.
"Emma was ridiculous today," said Graystone.
"She was truly unstoppable.
"We know she is capable of doing it, and no
matter what SFA did today they couldn't slow her down."
In the first set, the Islanders fell behind
quickly by a 5-1 score.
The team trailed by two when Brooke
Alverson tied the match at 13-13 with a kill and a service
ace. The Islanders took a
brief lead at 16-15, but fell behind 22-16 after seven-straight
points by the Ladyjacks. A
kill from Ridley and a pair by Isabella
Arcidiacono brought the score back to level at a 24-24. Jordan
Flemmer notched a kill to give the Islanders a 26-25 lead and
back-to-back kills from Ridley closed the set at 28-26 in favor of
A&M - Corpus Christi.
"We kind of stole the first one after being
down late in the set," said Graystone. "We were in good shape from
then on and I am really proud of them."
Set two came a little easier for the
Islanders. With the score
tied 3-3, three-straight points with a service ace from Shannon
Hullum and a kill by Ridley made it 6-3. The Ladyjacks got within a single
point several times before tying the score at 11-11. The grabbed the lead for the first
time at 14-13 before three-straight points gave the Islanders a
16-14 advantage. They
outscored SFA 12-4 after trailing to take a 25-18 set victory.
The Ladyjacks took a 25-18 win in set three to
avoid the sweep. With the
match tied at 17-17, SFA outscore A&M - Corpus Christi 8-1 to
pull with a 2-1 in set wins.
The Islanders closed out the Ladyjacks in the
fourth set with a late 14-6 run. The teams were deadlocked at 11-11
before a kill from Ridley and a service ace from Logen Bourque gave
their team a 14-11 lead as they never looked back. With the set at 24-17, Ridley picked
up her 26th kill of the day to clinch the match for A&M -
Corpus Christi.
Bourque led the Islanders with 39 assists
while Micah
Nolan added 21 digs to pace the team. Alverson and Flemmer tied for the
team lead with four block assists each as Arcidiacono added three
on the day. Ridley also
added 13 digs for her eighth double-double of the year.
Next up for A&M - Corpus Christi will be
UTSA on Wednesday night for their annual "Dig Pink" event. The match is scheduled for a
7:00 p.m. start at the Dugan Wellness Center. The Roadrunners are currently 8-9 on
the season and 2-1 in Southland matches.
"We think UTSA is very good offensively," said
Graystone. "We have lot of work to do to get ready for
Wednesday."
