CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Lamar University volleyball team's sluggish start offensively hurt the Cardinals Thursday night when they fell to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3-1 (25-18, 25-22, 25-18) at the Dugan Wellness Center in Southland Conference action.
 
By the time LU (13-11, 3-7 Southland Conference) finished the second set, it had 18 errors and 23 kills, and neither set had a hitting average higher than .100. On the other side, Corpus Christi (23-4, 11-0) had a great first set, with 11 kills and three errors, but had a subpar second set but was still able to pull out the win. 
 
The Islanders' third set had 15 kills and only five miscues, and that tallied them a .303 hitting percentage, the highest either team would record for the match.
 
In the second game, the Cardinals grabbed a late lead, but Corpus Christi was able to overcome that and go on a three-point run to gain a 19-17 advantage.  LU earned their 18^th point on a kill from Nicole Parish, but Corpus would push its lead to 21-18, which was the closest the Cardinals came.
 
The first set was dominated by the Islanders, who ran off five runs of three or more points, and twice they had runs of four or more. A five-point run gave Corpus Christi some breathing room in the third after LU cut the lead to 15-13 on Cortney Moore's kill, but the Islanders turned it to 20-13 on three kills and two Cardinal errors.
 
Moore led LU with 11 kills and Ivette Dim, who earned her third-straight start Thursday, led the team with a .286 attack percentage.  Alaina Dock and Chelsea Grant each had four kills and one error, while Autumn Taylor had three kills.  Parish had two along with Amy Hollowell, and Murielle Hlavc and Carlyn Stella each had one.
 
Haley Morton had 17 assists, followed by Ashley Ellis at 12. Lauren Stahlman had 11 digs.
 
Ivy Baresh had 13 kills and Morgan Carlson finished 10, both had attack percentages above .300. Kristyn Nicholson accounted for 31 assists and the league leader Kate Klepetka had 15 digs.
 
The Cardinals will continue their five-match road trip with the second, which is at Houston Baptist Saturday morning at 11 o'clock. That match is followed by the gridiron square-off of the Huskies and Cardinals, which starts at 2 o'clock.