Nov. 15, 2008

Box Score

SLC Tournament Bracket

SAN MARCOS, Texas- The Texas State volleyball team shined tonight as they celebrated Senior Day, the 1998 Southland Conference Championship team and their own 2008 SLC regular season championship. The Bobcats downed the visiting Islanders in three (25-19, 25-21, 25-13) leaving no room for anyone else on the championship podium. Texas State will enter the SLC tournament next week with an 21-13, 14-2 SLC record. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has ended their season 4-22, 2-14 SLC.

"I'm extremely proud of the ladies," said Head coach Karen Chisum. "There were so many distractions tonight. We knew we had it won. It may not have been the prettiest match, but we won it 3-0. We have won the conference outright and the seniors have done a great job all year long. Now we are just looking forward to the tournament."

In what was another team effort night, the Bobcats got started with a 25-19 win in the first set over the Islanders. Texas State had a hitting average of .265, while they held the Islanders to .083. Lawrencia Brown had four kills and four digs in the first.

After beating the Islanders, 25-21 in the second, Texas State came out in the third focused. Jessica Weynand lit up the boards as she seven kills.

Texas State had a hitting percentage .323 in the third; finishing the match with .269. For the 17th straight game the Bobcats have been able to keep their opponents hitting percentage to .300 or below.

Weyand led all Bobcats with 12 kills and eight digs. Brown had seven kills and 15 digs, while Melinda Cave had nine kills. Emily Jones Wilkes led all players in blocks with six.

Coach Chisum and the team honored the 1998 Texas State volleyball team during halftime. Sixteen players and staff showed up from the SLC Tournament Champions. Texas State would like to say thank you to their senior class; Lawrencia Brown, Amy Weigle and Emily Jones Wilkes.

The Southland Conference Tournament will be held in Nacogdoches, Texas hosted by Stephen F. Austin. The tournament will begin on Friday, November 21 with the championship match being held on Sunday the 23rd. Texas State will take on Northwestern State in the first round of the tournament on Nov. 21 at 4 p.m.

"We will refocus on Monday and really get down to business, because our season is not over. That was part two of our season; part three of our season is now the post season and the NCAA berth.

"(Having the No. 1 seed) is the same thing as being picked early on in the polls," said Chisum." "I don't like it. I think it's the kiss of death. There's always a target on your back. I think the loss to UTSA early in the season may have helped us, to wake us up. But, we are the No. 1 seed and we are going in to win it."

Texas State will enter the SLC Tournament as the No. 1 seed for only the fourth time since joining the SLC. Tonight's championship marks the first time since 2004 that the Bobcats have won the regular season title. Back in 2004, was the last time that the Bobcats won both the regular season and tournament championship.