COMMERCE – Despite fighting back to take the third set on Saturday afternoon, the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team fell in four sets to A&M-Corpus Christi in the Field House via set scores of 25-11, 25-16, 23-25, and 25-14.
 
The Lions drop to 8-12 on the season and 4-3 in Southland play, while the Islanders improved to 11-8 overall and 6-1 in SLC play. A&M-Corpus Christi has won all three matchups against the Lions in the last two seasons.
 
"Playing a team like A&M-Corpus Christi, you have to start off on the right track to compete, and we did not do that today," said coach Joe Morales. "But we fought, even though it was a little late, and made some adjustments and just played volleyball."

"Against a team like them, you can't give up any easy points, they are an experienced and well coached team, we had to play almost perfect."  

I'm pleased with our team's fight, but we have to get better and be better in the moment. I'm never happy with a loss, but getting better and improving is what counts and I see that in our team.

The Islanders jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first set and had a lead as big as 13 prior to closing out the set, 25-11. A&M-Corpus Christi hit .516 in the first set, while the Lions hit .111. Leah Stolfus had five kills in the first set for the Islanders.
 
The second set started with A&M-Corpus Christi leading 4-0. The Lions did pull to within two at 15-13, but the Islanders quickly went up 24-14, and despite A&M-Commerce saving two set points, a service error gave the set to the Islanders.
 
The Islanders led 8-5 to start the third set, but the Lions won four in a row to lead 9-8, leading in a set for only the third time in the match. Both teams alternated points, until the Lions won two in a row to lead 13-11 and forced the Islanders to call their first timeout.
 
Coming out of the timeout, A&M-Commerce took the next three to lead 16-11. A service error halted the scoring run and the Islanders capitalized by winning four of the next five and forcing a Lion timeout.
 
The Islanders tied the set at 17, but the Lions won the next two to go back up in the set. The Lions won four in a row with the set tied at 20 for four opportunities to extend the set. The Islanders won the next three and after a Lion timeout, won the set on a kill by Reese Fetty (Farmersville).
 
A&M-Commerce outhit A&M-Corpus Christi .222 to .156 in the third set.
 
The Islanders took command of the fourth set early by leading 13-2 and closed out the match, taking the fourth set, 25-14. A&M-Corpus Christi hit .296 in the third set.
 
Kyndal Payne had 17 kills and 11 digs for the Islanders, while Stolfus had 16 kills, two aces, five digs, and three blocks. Kayla White recorded 21 digs and Belle Morgan, the SLC assists leader, had 51.
 
For the Lions, Fetty led the way with eight kills and had five digs as well. Breann Connally (Coolidge – Groesbeck) had 19 assists and Jade Smith (Houston – Mayde Creek) picked up 19 digs. Both Avery Wilks (Mont Belvieu – Barber Hills) and Millie Allgood (Sherwood, Ark.) served up two aces each.
 
UP NEXT
The Lions head to Houston to face HCU, the defending conference champion on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and host Lamar on Saturday at 1 p.m.