CORPUS CHRISTI — Career nights from sophomore Andee Josserand and freshman Laura Witt guided the UTSA volleyball team to a 3-1 win (15-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-21) at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday night in front of a record crowd of 1,249 fans at Dugan Wellness Center.
The Roadrunners won their third consecutive match to improve to 10-9 and are off to their first 4-1 start in Southland Conference play since 2004.
Josserand paced a strong offensive attack with a career-best 14 winners. Senior Kendra Rowland posted 12 kills and sophomore Brittney Malloy chipped in with 11. Witt recorded 40 assists in her first collegiate start, while junior Kelsey Jewasko collected a match-high 28 digs.
The Islanders (7-11, 1-4 SLC) received 12 winners from Emma Ridley and Logen Bourque handed out 38 assists.
The Roadrunners came out flat and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi took advantage in an opening-set win. The Islanders rushed out to the early lead after hitting at a .382 clip, led by five winners from Ridley.
UTSA returned to form in the second stanza, as Josserand served up five consecutive points to give the Birds an 18-6 lead. After a brief 8-3 spurt by the Islanders, the Roadrunners capitalized on an errant attack attempt from Ridley to hold a 23-13 lead. Back-to-back kills from Malloy and Josserand tied the match at one frame apiece.
A 4-1 run opened up a 21-17 lead for UTSA in the third set. After pushing the lead to 24-18, Witt pushed across a winner for the Birds before an attack error from the Islanders gave UTSA a 2-1 advantage.
Malloy chalked up a winner to help UTSA push out to a 17-15 lead in a closely-contested fourth frame. After a kill from the Islanders, UTSA picked up two points in a row to claim a 19-16 lead. Following a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi timeout, the Islanders scored four of the next half dozen points to pull within one (21-20). However, the Roadrunners closed out the match with a 4-1 run on the strength of winners from senior Briana Mason, Josserand and Rowland.
UTSA, who improved to 13-0 all-time against the Islanders, returns home for the first time in two weeks on Saturday to host McNeese State in a 1 p.m. tilt at the Convocation Center.
