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San Antonio, Texas – The largest crowd ever to witness a volleyball match at the Convocation Center in San Antonio saw the Bobcats claim at least a share of the Southland Conference regular season championship on Thursday as Texas State handed UTSA a 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-17) defeat to end the Roadrunners' 14-match home winning streak.
Texas State overcame a raucous crowd and a tough opponent in improving to 23-7 overall and 14-1 in the Southland Conference. The team secured at least a co-championship – its seventh in the program's history – for the regular season and can win the regular season title outright and a No. 1 seed in next week's SLC Tournament with a win on Saturday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
The Bobcats came back from a loss in the first set to win the next three as the team ended the sixth longest active home winning streak in the nation. The team posted a .297 hitting percentage and out-blocked the top blocking team in the conference by a 10.0-7.0 margin. Texas State's back row defense also picked it up, holding an 82-67 advantage in digs over the home team.
Amari Deardorff was nearly unstoppable at times on Thursday as she led the offense with a season-high 19 kills and .462 hitting percentage, while Melissa Toth (15 kills, .295) and Amber Calhoun (12 kills, .250) also put down double-digit kills. Caleigh McCorquodale tied her career highs with 54 assists and 23 digs for her team-leading 14th double-double of the season, while Ashlee Hilbun had five blocks and 13 digs on the defense side of the net.
After beginning the SLC season with a 12-0 record, UTSA (19-10) lost for the second time in three matches to fall to 13-2 in the conference. Despite the loss, the Roadrunners are guaranteed at least a No. 2 seed in the Southland Conference Tournament.
In the first set, UTSA jumped out to an early advantage and was able to fend off several Bobcat attempts at taking over the lead. The Bobcats came within one on four occasions behind the strong play of Deardorff (six kills) and McCorquodale (14 assists, seven digs) but were never able to take the lead. The Bobcats went on a late run to pull within one, 23-22, on a block from Deardorff and Calhoun, but following a UTSA timeout, the home team received kills from Brittney Malloy and Whitney Walls to close out the set, 25-23.
A booming kill from Calhoun out of the middle tied the second set and ignited a Bobcat run that saw the team score five of six points to take a 14-11 lead, forcing a UTSA timeout. Texas State's defense at the net began dictating play as the Bobcats recorded three stuffs over a five-point stretch that helped the team build a 17-12 advantage. Texas State maintained its five-point lead until set point, 24-19, when the Roadrunners went on a three-point spurt to pull within two, 24-22, and force a Texas State timeout. However, a big swing from Lindy DeGeare on the outside made it through the UTSA block to give the Bobcats the second set and tie the match at 1-1.
After intermission, both teams came out strong with neither gaining more than a two-point advantage through the first half of the frame. With the score tied at 15-15, the Bobcats got kill from Hilbun, a solo block from Calhoun and an attack error on the Roadrunners to take a 18-15 lead. UTSA came within one point of tying it up on three occasions down the stretch, but Texas State went to outside hitters Toth and DeGeare down the stretch to help the team pull away late for a 25-20 win in the third set.
The fourth set saw long serving runs from DeGeare and Whalen to help the team pull ahead 14-12 midway through the set. After UTSA came within one, the Bobcats began to pull away with a 19-15 lead before Whalen served five straight points to put the team up 23-16. McCorquodale then scored the final two points of the match on a kill and a solo block to close out the final period with a 25-17 win.
With the win, Texas State improved its Southland Conference winning streak to 14 matches, the second longest in the program's history.
The Bobcats now turn their sights toward their final match of the 2011 regular season on Saturday against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders with the conference championship on the line. First serve of that match will be at 1 p.m. at the Dugan Wellness Center.