Sept. 1, 2006

Box Score

EDINBURG - For the third time in 2006, Lawrencia Brown tied her career-high for kills, posting 24 to go with a .365 hitting percentage, as Texas State used four games to knock down Texas-Pan American (30-24, 30-26, 30-32, 32-30) at UTPA Fieldhouse in Edinburg.

Kacey Wimpy produced a career-high 22 digs to lead three Bobcats in double figures, as Haley Speyer recorded a career-best 12 and Christina Melvin added 11 in the Bobcat win. Melvin also finished the match with a team-high 42 set assists.

Ashley Stark and Kelly Fletcher joined Brown in double digits, each posting 11 kills, while sophomore middle blocker Emily Jones finished the match with four service aces. The win was the second this season for Texas State over Texas-Pan American, dropping the Broncs to 1-4 on the year while improving the Bobcat mark to 3-2.

Texas State jumped out to an early 10-6 lead in game one thanks to a pair of Fletcher kills and one each from Brown and Collins. The Bobcats would add to the lead and go up 16-10 on another kill from Collins, but UTPA fired off the next four points to get within two at 16-14.

The Bobcats pulled back out in front at 21-17, and after again having the lead slashed to two (24-22), Texas State finished the game on a 6-2 run to go up 1-0 in the match with a 30-24 triumph.

In game two, Texas State fell behind 3-0 and 5-1, but a 7-2 Bobcat run gave Texas State its first game-two lead at 8-7.

Back-to-back Amy Weigle kills later broke an eight-all tie and put Texas State on top 10-8, and a scoring run of 8-3 gave Texas State its biggest game-two lead at 18-12. UTPA snuck back into the game by way of a 10-4 outburst that tied the game at 22-22, but Texas State managed to finish the second frame on an 8-4 run to take a 2-0 match lead with a 30-26 win.

The Broncs again came out strong in game three with the first three scores, but Texas State battled back to tie the game at 8-8. The Bobcats gained control of the lead momentarily midway through the game, as Stark notched a service ace to put Texas State up 15-14, and over the next 16 serves, Texas State took ten points to grab a 25-20 lead.

The Bobcats would be denied their second sweep of the season over the Broncs, however, as UTPA scored 12 of the final 17 points to win 32-30 and stay alive in the match down 2-1.

Heather Bravo, an all-tournament team member last week in San Marcos, opened game four with a kill to put UTPA up 1-0, and the Broncs looked to be in control of game four, going up by as many as four in the middle of the game at 17-13.

Texas State rallied back to tie at 18-18, and four more knots would occur before Texas State took its first lead, going up 27-26 and 28-26 on back-to-back Fletcher kills.

An attacking error by UTPA put Texas State up 29-26, but with match-point in sight, UTPA got the next four points to take a 30-29 lead and force extra points for the second-straight game.

Texas State tied the match at 30-30 on another kill by Fletcher on a controversial call, resulting in a second yellow card and automatic red card on the UTPA bench which resulted in a free Texas State point at 31-30.

Weigle and Jones put down match-point for the `Cats at 32-30, blocking Bravo's attempted attack to earn Texas State the 3-1 match victory.

The Bobcats will continue play in Edinburg Saturday, taking on Texas Tech at 1 p.m. at UTPA Fieldhouse.