Sept. 16, 2006

Box Score

HOUSTON - Texas State had three double-digit kill outings, including a career-high 19 from senior Kelly Fletcher, but the Bobcats were unable to match UTEP in a 3-2 (21-30, 30-26, 27-30, 30-19, 12-15) loss Saturday in Houston.

Lawrencia Brown posted a double-double and a career-high for digs, killing 11 balls and digging 28, while Karry Griffin had six blocks and 14 digs in the loss that dropped Texas State to 3-10 on the year.

UTEP (4-9) was paced by Christie Murphy, who led four Miners in double-figures with 18 kills in the match.

Game one began with the teams trading points to a 4-4 tie before UTEP exploded for six-straight points to go up 10-4, and the Miners continued the rally, using a 10-7 run to jump ahead 20-12 in the opening game.

The Bobcats would get back to within six points on a pair of kills by Fletcher that made the score 22-16, but UTEP scored on eight of the final 15 serves to take a 30-21 win to open the match.

Texas State clawed back after falling behind 5-2 in game two, taking an 8-7 lead on a Miner attacking error. The game remained close until the Bobcats broke a 16-all tie with a Brown point that made the score 17-17, and Texas State scored six of the next eight points that followed to go up 23-18.

UTEP got a kill from Catherine Chavez to cut Texas State's lead to 23-19, but the Bobcats scored the next four points to widen the gap to 27-19. UTEP would then score the next five points to slash the Bobcat lead to 27-24, but the Bobcats got three of the final five serves to win 30-26 and even the match at 1-1.

Game three saw Texas State jump out to an early 8-4 lead, and the Bobcats maintained the advantage through the game's mid-point, going up 16-12 on a UTEP attacking miscue.

After UTEP cut the lead to one at 19-18, the Bobcats went on a 5-1 run to take a 24-19 lead, forcing a UTEP time out after an Ashley Stark service ace put the `Cats up by five.

Out of the break, however, UTEP got six of the next seven points to tie the game at 25-all, and the Miners finished the game on a 5-2 run to win 30-27.

Down 2-1, Texas State scored the first four points of game four, but an 8-4 UTEP scoring burst tied the game a 8-8 on a Bobcat attacking error.

Texas State would go on to score the next four points to lead 12-8, and the Bobcats capped a 7-1 run with a Brown spike that made the score 15-9 mid-way through the match-tying game.

UTEP scrambled back to within five on a Katie Smith kill that made the score 19-14, but Texas State finished the game on an 11-5 clip that included six Texas State kills, a pair of service aces and three UTEP errors. The 30-19 win tied the match at 2-2 and forced a decisive fifth game.

In game five, UTEP scored two of the first three before Texas State notched three-straight to go up 4-2, but the Miners would erase the lead, scoring three unanswered themselves to go up 5-4 in the final frame.

Texas State's final lead in the match would come at 9-7 on a kill by Brown, but the Miners managed the next four points to go up 11-9 and finished on a 4-3 run to take the final game 15-12 and the match 3-2.

Five Bobcats were in double-digits defensively, led by Brown's 28 digs and Fletcher's career-best 20. Stark had 16 back-line stops for the `Cats, while Brittany Collins had 12 and Haley Speyer equaled her career-high at 14.

Collins also carded the start at the setting position for the Bobcats, passing out a career-high 53 assists in the five-game defeat. Fletcher led Texas State in scoring, coming away with 20.5 points in the match.

Texas State returns to action next Saturday, taking on Texas-Arlington in the Southland Conference opener for both schools at Texas Hall in Arlington. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.