Nov. 20, 2009

Box Score

Box Score

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS- No. 1 seed Texas State sweeps No. 8 Southeastern La. 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-20) in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament at the Convocation Center in San Antonio. Senior outside hitter Jessica Weynand led the Bobcats with 11 kills on .588 hitting.

"We're in the second round. You always want to get through the first one and now it's on to the second," said head coach Karen Chisum. "We weren't playing bad today, but we weren't playing real aggressive. In tomorrow's match we need to increase our tempo, speed and domination."

Texas State is riding an 11-match win streak after junior right side hitter Melinda Cave registered seven kills (.462)and three service aces, while sophomore middle blocker Amber Calhoun added five kills (.250) and four blocks.

Southeastern La. committed costly errors to start the first set as the Bobcats scored four straight on the Lady Lions to take an 8-4 lead forcing Southeastern La. to take a timeout. Texas State was up five before the Lady Lions Courtney Donald collected a kill. Block assists by Cave and Jillian Wolpman bumped the Texas State score to 11-5, as the Bobcats continued to have control of the match.

Southeastern La. came to within four at the 13-9 mark after a kill by Taylor Buckner, but Texas State kept its cool and won the set 25-16. Weynand and Calhoun tallied three kills each as they both hit .600 after the first set.

The second set saw a bit of a mood swing as Southeastern La. stayed in the mix with Texas State for the majority of the set. The Lady Lions tied the match up at 5-All, but a scoop trick by Brittany Collins gave the Bobcats a 6-5 edge. The Lady Lions took their first lead of the match after a Mo Middleton attack error. Service errors haunted both teams for three straight serves until Cave got the ball over the net resulting in a Calhoun kill down the middle to take the lead back.

Back-to-back kills by Cave gave Texas State a 19-14 lead. Middleton ended the set on a high power service ace splitting the Lady Lion defense. Cave registered five kills in the set on .400 hitting, leading Texas State to a 25-15 win, to go up 2-0 on Southeastern La.

Shelbi Irvin started things off in the third with a service ace to get things going. After being down 2-3, Texas State scored three straight after kills by Calhoun and Cave, and block assists by Calhoun and Watlington. Texas State kept the lead for the rest of the match, beating Southeastern La. 25-20 to take the set and match.

"We were focused today. We came out there knowing what we had to do," said Weynand. "We had to win three matches. We started off a little slow, but we brought it back up. We definitely have to pick it up tomorrow and come out with high energy.

Texas State finished the match with 32 kills on .284 hitting, with 31 assists and 30 digs. Southeastern La. tallied 32 kills on .093 hitting, adding 31 assists and 37 digs.

"We have to play faster volleyball tomorrow. We have six hitters, so we get to spread the ball around," said Chisum. "No one gets 45 sets, because we're very well rounded. It makes us good as a team, because our opponents never know where the ball is coming from next."

Courtney Donald led Southeastern La. with seven kills on .357 hitting. Lauren Mayer recorded seven kills, with five digs.

The Bobcats will play the winner of Lamar and UT Arlington tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 21 at 1:00pm in the semifinals of the SLC Tournament.