Southland Leaders Invade Johnson Thursday
11/11/2015 8:38:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Southland Conference leader Texas A&M-Corpus Christi invades Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum Thursday night to begin the final weekend of regular season play in the 2015 Southland Conference volleyball race.
While the Islanders have a firm lock on the number one seed in next week's conference volleyball tournament in Conway, Arkansas, there is still plenty of jockeying for position in the rest of the seeding going on this weekend.
A&M-Corpus Christi has clinched the regular season title with a 14-0 league record and stands 26-4 overall. The Islanders defeated Sam Houston 26-24 25-22 25-14 in Corpus Christi on October 31. But seeds two through eight are still undecided.
Sam Houston, 12-16 for the year and 6-8 in conference, currently stands seventh among the 11 teams eligible for the tournament field. Southeastern Louisiana (6-9 in the league) is in eighth trying to catch the Kats. The Lions play host to second place Central Arkansas Thursday in their only action of the weekend.
Houston Baptist (7-7) currently holds the number five spot in the standings. The Huskies will be the Kats' foe in Saturday's regular season finale at 2 p.m. HBU plays at last place Lamar Thursday.
Thursday night's rematch of the Islanders and the Bearkats features several of the top performers in the Southland this season.
The Islanders' Brittany Gilpin leads the league in attack percentage with a .372 mark. Sam Houston's Jordyn Vaughn and Brooke White rank fifth and seventh, respectively, in the Southland in kills per set with average of 3.28 and 3.20, respectively.
The top two setters in the league battle Thursday. A&M-Corpus Christi's Kristyn Nicholson leads the league with 10.77 assists per set while Sam Houston's Michelle Griffith is averaging 10.30. Islander libero Kate Klepetka sits atop the Southland with 6.0 digs per set while Sam Houston's Claire Kilpatrick is one of the league's leaders with a 4.14 average.
In Sam Houston's first meeting with the Islanders this year, Vaughn totaled eight kills and Taylor Cunningham, Shelby Genung and Brooke White all posted five apiece. Ivy Baresh led A&M-Corpus Christi with 11 as the Islanders totaled 43 kills as a team with only 18 errors in 135 attempts.
The first two sets were dog-fights with 13 ties and eight lead changes before the break. A&M-Corpus Christi took an early lead in the third and held on to complete the victory.
The Southland Conference tournament begins on Friday, November 20. Hosted by Central Arkansas, the tournament semifinals will be Saturday afternoon, November 27 and the finals on Sunday, November 22.
