Texas State Volleyball Jumps Out in Conference Play

by Marvin Parker
Sports Reporter

Coming from a 1-3 outing in the Shocker Classic last weekend, the Bobcats bounced back while returning to Strahan Coliseum during family weekend. Having played Sam Houston State last Tuesday in Huntsville, winning (3-0) seemed to serve as a confidence boost for Texas State, leading into conference play against Georgia State and Louisiana Lafayette.

The only major statistic the Bobcats didn’t lead in the Friday matchup with Georgia State were blocks. Sophomore Erin Hoppe had 43 assists, six digs, five kills and four blocks of her own to help the Bobcats back at home. Freshman Madison Daigle collected 10 kills to add onto her block total. Daigle (4), Hoppe(4), Lewis(6) and Kohl(3) combined for 17 kills.

Texas State came out of the locker room holding Georgia State to a .026 hitting percentage and14/30 on kills. The combination of the Panthers defense pulling the team back in it momentarily and errors made by the Bobcats ended up in a 25-20 set in favor of Georgia State to prolong the game. Regrouping heading into the fourth set, Texas State had no pressure after possibly trying to force unwarranted plays in the prior set. 17-25 Bobcats was the fourth and final set that improved the overall series record to 6-2.

With Saturday off, the team had a day to enjoy with family during family weekend in San Marcos. Maybe attending the home football game and enjoying tailgate allowed the volleyball team to come in fresh and ready to remain perfect all-time facing Louisiana Lafayette Sunday at noon.

Jordan Kohl took over later in the first set after the Bobcats looked like they were in trouble; down 22-24 before winning that first set 26-24. ULL struggled early and came back 9-12 before the maroon and gold called a timeout. Out of the timeout in the second set, ULL got momentum on their side with good defense and better offense. Texas State had a few errors that contributed as well.

After a Lafayette timeout at 11-17, Texas State could smell blood. Brushing off a few errors that ended up in ULL favor there seemed to be a more locked in composure from the Chisum coached team. The third set got sloppy once again for the Bobcats having to call their own timeout at 17-21 trying to close the door. Texas State ended up closing out the set and game in a 3-0 fashion.

Improving to .500 once again at 7-7, Texas State takes a 2-0 conference record and three game win streak into Atlanta when they visit Georgia State on Thursday at 5pm. The next time the Bobcats will be in Strahan is Octotober 1^st at 6:3 0p.m. vs Arkansas Little Rock.