Box Score

San Marcos, Texas – Seven points into the first set of Wednesday evening's match against UT Arlington, the Texas State volleyball team found itself in front, 7-0. It would be a sign of things to come as Texas State improved to 7-1 in front of the San Marcos faithful this season.

The Bobcats seized control of the match early and maintained their focus through all three sets as they defeated UT Arlington, 3-0 (25-17, 25-9, 25-18), in front of 698 fans at Strahan Coliseum, avenging an earlier loss to the Mavericks this season when UTA won 3-2 in Arlington.

The Bobcats ran their winning streak to four matches as they improved to 14-9 overall and 7-2 in the Southland Conference. The Mavericks dropped their fourth straight match as they fell to 9-14 overall and 3-6 in the SLC.

Following the team's hot start to the match, the Bobcats continued to apply pressure as Caleigh McCorquodale scored three straight points on her serve, capped off by a block assist from Ashlee Hilbun and Madeline Gaffney to give Texas State a 12-2 lead. The Bobcats cruised through the remainder of the set as the Mavericks could not cut their deficit to less than seven points. Texas State finished the set one victory, 25-17, as McCorquodale found Hilbun for the kill to put the team ahead in the match, 1-0.

The second set featured a strong performance by the Bobcat defense as it held UTA to a negative-.192 hitting percentage while inducing 10 attack errors. Texas State totaled 3.5 blocks in the set, led by Amber Calhoun's three. Offensively, the Bobcats needed just six kills to help the team to a 25-9 second-set victory.

 The team went on a 13-2 run to begin the second set, a run that featured three consecutive aces by senior Mo Middleton in the first six point of the stanza. The Bobcats maintained an 11-point advantage until Danielle Sanchou served four consecutive points, making it 21-7. The team traded points before Middleton's fourth ace of the set gave the Bobcats the 2-0 lead heading into the locker room.

Set three saw the Bobcats inch out to a 9-6 lead before kills from Middleton and Melinda Cave helped extend the advantage to 12-7. From there, Texas State gradually opened up a seven-point lead on Cave's fourth kill of the set before a big swing from freshman Rachel James on the right side resulted in a kill and a 25-18 victory.

The Bobcats tallied 38 kills with a .326 hitting percentage compared to 23 kills and a .000 hitting percentage from UT Arlington. Texas State also led in digs (38-34), blocks (6.5-2.0) and aces (5-4).

Senior AJ Watlington reached double-digits in kills for the 10^th time this season as she paced the team with 10 winners. Middleton added six and Hilbun totaled five with a .625 hitting percentage. James put down four kills – all in the third set – with a .667 hitting percentage, and Cave was a perfect four-for-four on hitting attempts.

Shelbi Irvin led the Bobcats with a match-high 20 assists while connecting with her hitters for kills on .571 percent of her sets. McCorquodale added 11 assists for the Bobcats.

Sanchou paced the back row with 11 digs for her fifth straight match with at least 10 saves. Middleton finished with eight digs and Calhoun added six for the winning team.