Dallas, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team fell to tournament-host SMU, 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 18-25, 25-20), on Friday evening in the team's second match at the SMU Doubletree Invite. The Bobcats' record now stands at 2-3, while the Mustangs, who received votes in the most recent American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, improved to 5-0 this season.
Neither team was able to find its groove offensively as both hit below .200 for the match. The Bobcats held an 85-80 advantage in digs, while SMU led with a 10-6 advantage in blocks.
Leading the offensive attack for Texas State was AJ Watlington who finished with a team-high 14 kills. Melinda Cave added 11 kills, while freshmen Preslie Alexander and Amari Deardorff each had nine.
Five Bobcats finished with 10-or-more kills, led by setter Caleigh McCorquodale who tallied 18 saves. Alexander, Watlington and Jennifer Neice each had 16 digs, and Shelbi Irvin finished with 10.
Texas State led briefly in the early going before SMU went on a 7-1 run to take an 11-6 advantage in the first set. The Mustangs maintained their advantage, but the Bobcats started to chip away at the lead behind the hitting of Deardorff. The freshman put down consecutive kills to help bring Texas State back to within four, 17-13.
After SMU extended its lead back to six, 22-16, Cave smashed a kill from the right side and McCorquodale followed with a service ace to bring Texas State within four once again. Matti Schumacher entered late in the set for the Bobcats and made an impact as she put down a pair of kills late to help bring Texas State within one, 23-22. The Bobcats managed to fend off one set point on a kill by Deardorff, but the Mustangs capitalized on their second set point opportunity to take a 1-0 lead in the match by a score of 25-23.
Set two was nearly a mirror image of the first as the Bobcats fell behind early before making a feverish run to close the set. Behind 23-19 in the latter stages of the period, Texas State would score four of the next five points to pull within one, 24-23. The Bobcats needed the next point to stay in the set, but a long rally ended in an SMU kill to put the Mustangs in the driver's seat with a 2-0 lead.
The Bobcats found themselves in a familiar position in the third set as SMU took an 11-8 lead early. The Bobcats pushed back this time and tied the set at 12-12 following a pair of kills by Cave and Watlington. Texas State then went on a 5-1 run, grabbing its largest lead of the match at the time on a block by Madeline Gaffney and Deardorff.
Leading 21-16, Texas State kept the pressure on down the stretch as Alexander hammered a pair of kills before Cave's kill gave the team a 25-18 third set win.
The fourth set began much like the first three as SMU sprinted out to a 10-5 lead. The Bobcats cut their deficit to four at one point but couldn't make a run as the teams traded points for the majority of the set before an SMU kill gave the Mustangs a 25-20 win.
The Bobcats return to action on Saturday, September 4 in the final day of the SMU Doubletree Invite. Texas State takes on Texas Tech at noon. Live coverage of the game will be provided by www.smumustangs.com and score updates can also be found on www.txstatebobcats.com and the Texas State Athletics Twitter account.
