Islander VB defeats McNeese
The Islanders block a hit from McNeese Thursday night.
Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi closed out McNeese 3-1 (25-16, 25-15, 26-28, 25-21) on Radiology Associates Pack it Pink Night after a tough battle in the fourth set on Oct. 14 at the Dugan Wellness Center.
The Islanders were off to a strong start in the first two sets and struggled to shut out the Cowgirls in a 3-0 sweep out with McNeese making a comeback.
(Gabriella Ruiz)
In the first set, the Islanders managed to get six points from freshman outside hitter Kyndal Payne’s serve and won the set (25-16) from McNeese’s error. TAMU-CC was leading in the second set with 14-3 and senior Kylie Filipiak got a kill on her opponent and made the score 19-11. The Islanders were able to win the (25-15) set thanks to freshman Leah Stolfus’ kill. The third set had the Islanders fall battling back and forth in a (26-28) set over the Cowgirls. Lastly, the fourth set had both teams neck and neck with the match tied 17-17. Stolfus was able to save the match with her spike with game point 24-21. When Barnes went up to serve, the McNeese Cowgirls ended the match with an error and thus the Islanders taking home the win.
“McNeese really picked it up and started playing hard,” said head coach Steve Greene. “I thought we did a good job of just fighting back and just playing aggressively. We finished off really, really putting on a ton of effort and it worked kind of fired up the crowd and made it.”
TAMU-CC’s top leaders of the game ended with freshman Kyndal Payne with 14 kills, senior Rachel Young with three blocks, Southland Conference Offensive Player of the week winner, junior Faith Panhans with 44 assists, and SLC Defensive Player junior libero, Carissa Barnes with 28 digs and 2 aces for the night.
Barnes was proud of everybody for holding the momentum and energy to finish out strong in winning the match.
“We came up with a strategy, we were all confident in each other and played our game and obviously that showed in the first two sets,” said Barnes. “In the third set, you know we kind of lost track of what we’re trying to do. Just sticking with the game plan and staying confident, that’s what we need to do in order to finish that game.”
The Islanders will be playing their next away game on Oct. 21 in Lake Charles, Louisiana at 6:30 p.m. versus the McNeese Cowgirls.
Gabriella Ruiz is a senior Media Arts major with a focus in Media Studies and a minor in Digital Journalism. She has been working with Island Waves since...
