Sept. 29, 2004

Box Score

Houston, Texas - The Texas State volleyball team ended a four-match road swing on a postive note Tuesday night with a 3-1 (27-30, 30-19, 30-26, 30-25) victory over the Houston Cougars (1-11).  The win improves the `Cats to 8-4 with an even record in Southland play at 2-2.

For Texas State, the win marks the first over Houston since winning 3-1 at home in 1986 and is just the fourth win in 27 matches with the Cougars.

"This is a great win for our program," Head Coach Karen Chisum said.  "I have a lot of respect for [Head Coach] Bill Walton and what his program has accomplished over the years so for us to be able to come in here and win is big for us."

 

After a rocky start in a game one loss, the Bobcats quickly gained the upper hand in game two as the team recorded 13 kills with just four attacking errors on .265 hitting.

 

The `Cats continued to pull away in the third game, as the team converted 17 kills on .250 hitting, while in the fourth game the 'Cats finished strong with a team-best 20 kills on .302 hitting.

 

For the match Texas State had 62 kills with a .226 hitting percentage, while committing 13 fewer attacking errors then the Cougars (25-to-38).

 

Houston continued its struggle to find consistency this season as the team converted only 54 kills on .094 hitting with eight service errors.

 

Leading the way for the Bobcats on the attack was junior outside hitter Elizabeth Nwoke with 19 kills on .222 hitting.  Three other Bobcats recorded double figures in kills, as senior middle blocker Kacee Rogers, sophomore outside hitter Kelly Fletcher and freshman middle blocker Brandy St. Francis each had 11.  In addition to their 22 total kills, St. Francis and Rogers also dominated the frontline as the duo combined for 13 blocks to lead the team.

 

Senior setter Krystal Kolkhorst led all players in the match with 50 set assists while also recording six defensive digs.

 

Continuing her strong play on defense was senior libero Kristy Jones who totaled a team-high 16 digs (4 digs/gm) following a 32-dig performance last week against Stephen F. Austin.

Recording double figures in digs for the fifth consecutive match was senior outside hitter Stephanie Torregrosa with 12 on the night.

 

Freshman outside hitter Lesley Bowers also had a strong performance with seven kills on a team-high .583 hitting to go along with nine digs on the defensive end.

 

With the longest road-swing of the season now in the past, Texas State will return home to play host to two Southland Conference matches.  On Friday, Oct. 1, the 'Cats will face Nicholls State in rematch of last year's SLC Tournament Final 7:00 p.m.  Then on Saturday, Texas State will take on the Lions of Southeastern Louisiana at 4:00 p.m.  Both matches will be played at Strahan Coliseum.