EDINBURG, Texas — After going down 2-1 in the match, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi volleyball team forced a deciding fifth set and in a sprint to 15, they completed the comeback to take down UTRGV 3-2 (23-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-19, 15-13) Tuesday night at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.
It was the first head-to-head in the 2024-25 South Texas Showdown, presented by Rally Credit Union, an annual institutional rivalry between A&M-Corpus Christi and UTRGV. The Islanders gain 3.0 points from tonight's victory to take an immediate lead in the competition.
For volleyball, it was A&M-Corpus Christi's (7-8, 2-2 SLC) first win over the Vaqueros (6-8, 2-2 SLC) since 2021, which is also the last time they won in Edinburg. While UTRGV recorded 20 more kills on the night than the Islanders, they also made twice as many errors as the Islanders outhit the Vaqueros .273 to .255. The teams were evened in digs with exactly 79 apiece.
"It's really hard to step up after a long, hard fought match and I couldn't be more proud of everyone's efforts," said head coach Steve Greene. "At the end of the fourth set and for the entire fifth set, it was amazing to see how everyone stepped up and played focused and went full speed. Leah [Stolfus] led our team tonight not only with her play but with her attitude and communication. Kaitlyn [Baumann] did an outstanding job in the middle tonight."
The block held steady for the Islanders, as they took 11 points courtesy of their net defense while UTRGV could only deny the Islanders four times. Senior Kyndal Payne led it with five blocks, including four solo, which matched her career-high set twice before.
Payne, the reigning SLC Offensive Player of the Week, proved her title by also turning in her sixth straight double-double with 15 kills and 13 digs. She has recorded a double-double in every conference match so far this year.
Senior Leah Stolfus joined Payne at 15 kills, making just one error through the five sets to hit for a .538 clip. It is her seventh time hitting above .400 in a match this year, but first above .500. All have come with 17+ attempts.
Freshman Kaitlyn Baumann was also producing out of the middle, turning in her career-high 12 kills with a .458 hitting percentage. It marks her first career double figure kill performance. Also hitting in double digits was junior Rylee Achztehn who hammered down 10 in the effort. It is the second time this year she recorded 10 kills in a match.
It is the first time this year that the Islanders had at least four players hit in double figures in the same match.
Graduate Alex Hoglund ran the spread attack with 54 assists on the night, in addition to picking up 11 digs for her second double-double of the year. She and Payne are the only ones to record double-doubles on the year.
Junior Kendall Mahaney picked up her season-high 23 digs, three shy of her career best which was set at her previous school. It is her fifth 10+ dig performance of the year and third in a row since suiting up as libero.
The Islanders extend their slight advantage in the all-time series with UTRGV to 28-25. It was the fourth five-setter in the last six meetings between the two teams but first to see A&M-Corpus Christi end on top.
It is the first time the Islanders won after losing the first set since October of last year when they came back against McNeese to win it 3-1.
The Islanders will now return home for a pair of conference matchups to finish out the three-match week, hosting Texas A&M-Commerce Thursday and Northwestern State Saturday in the Dugan Wellness Center.