Hempstead, N.Y. – After winning the first two sets against Missouri State on Friday afternoon, the Texas State volleyball team dropped the final three sets to take a 3-2 loss (22-25, 25-27, 25-21, 25-17, 15-6) in the season opener. Playing in the Hofstra/Asics Invitational, the Bobcats (0-1) could not capitalize on their early lead in their first of three matches at the tournament.
“We saw some good things early on and a lot of potential,” said Karen Chisum, Texas State head coach. “But then we just made too many errors.”
Next up for the Bobcats is tournament-host Hofstra who lost to Canisius, 3-1, earlier on Friday. Texas State will take on the Pride beginning at 6 p.m. CST on Friday before wrapping up the tournament on Saturday against Canisius.
Missouri State, picked to finish second in the preseason Missouri Valley Conference poll, started the season 1-0 with the win.
Texas State opened the match with five players making their first career starts as Bobcats (Jennifer Neice, Caleigh McCorquodale, Amari Deardorff, Preslie Alexander and Madeline Gaffney), including three freshmen (Deardorff, Alexander and Gaffney). Deardorff recorded the first point of the season when her kill evened the match at 1-1 in the opening set.
“Amari was very consistent and did a good job,” Chisum said. “Preslie struggled early but really got back in the game. Madeline hit a very high percentage and is going to be a strong player for us going forward.”
That started an offense attack that hit .292 as a team in the first set as the Bobcats won, 25-22. Deardorff led the way in the first stanza with five kills and a .714 hitting percentage, while sophomore Matti Schumacher added three kills and a .600 hitting percentage in the set.
Texas State jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the second set behind strong serving from Alexander and senior Shelbi Irvin. However, Missouri State kept chipping away until they tied the set at 15-15. The score remained close the rest of the way, as neither team gained more than a two-point lead. With the score tied at 25-25, senior AJ Watlington's kill gave the team a set point, and Gaffney closed the deal with her third kill of the match to give Texas State a 2-0 lead at intermission.
The veteran Missouri State team would not give in as the Bears came back to take the next three sets.
“Missouri State is a very experienced team,” Chisum said. “They showed that as the match went on. They pushed, and we didn't push back.”
Schumacher led the Bobcats with a career-high 15 kills, while Watlington added 12. Deardorff put down nine kills and Alexander had eight in their collegiate debuts.
Irvin and McCorquodale shared the setting duties for the Bobcats and finished with 28 and 21 assists, respectively.
“Our two setters started the match great and were making some really good decisions,” Chisum said. “There is some potential with those two.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Neice recorded 17 digs, while Irvin had 15 for her first double-double of the season. Amber Calhoun had a team-high six blocks, and Schumacher posted four, including two solo stuffs.
As a team, Texas State hit .221, led by Gaffney with a .600 hitting percentage on six kills and 10 attempts.
Live stats are available for Texas State's second match on Friday through Hofstra's athletics website, www.gohofstra.com. Updates will also be provided through www.txstatebobcats.com and the Texas State Athletics Twitter account.
