Box Score | Box Score (PDF) | Tournament Bracket (PDF)
Conway, Ark. – Senior Amber Calhoun lofted an arching shot over the Central Arkansas defense and just inside the end line for her 16th kill of the match to cap off a exhausting five-set victory for the Texas State volleyball team on Saturday evening at the Farris Center in Conway, Ark. The victory propelled the top-seeded Bobcats to the Southland Conference Tournament Championship match for the 12th time in the program's history and seventh time since the year 2000.
No. 1 Texas State (26-7) will play No. 2 UTSA at 2 p.m. on Sunday to determine the tournament champion, which will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Bobcats and Sugar Bears put on an absolute show on Saturday evening in what must have been one of the most competitive semifinal matches in SLC Tournament history. After Texas State handily captured the first set, the two teams played evenly throughout the remainder of the match that featured a total of 42 tie scores.
The second set would be a good indication of what was to come as the Bobcats clawed to a 30-28 victory for a 2-0 lead in the match. However, Central Arkansas picked up its play out of intermission and pulled out 25-23 and 25-21 victories to send the match to a deciding fifth set.
The final set began much like the previous three with the home Sugar Bears jumping out in front early on, 8-6. After the Bobcats came back within one, Central Arkansas extended its lead to 12-9 to force a Texas State timeout.
Out of the break, head coach Karen Chisum's squad was able to score the next five points on a pair of kills from Melissa Toth and three consecutive blocks from Calhoun and sophomore Amari Deardorff to make the score 14-12.
Central Arkansas fended off two straight Texas State match points to even the score at 14-14, but Toth put away a free ball and Calhoun followed with a kill that gave the Bobcats their first five-set win since the 2009 season.
The Texas State block was key to the team's victory Saturday as the Bobcats tallied a season-high 17 stuffs as a team. Sophomore Ashlee Hilbun led the defense at the net with a career-high 11 blocks, while Calhoun added to her career block assist record total with six. Toth and Deardorff both had five blocks as well.
Toth came up big late for the Bobcats and led the team with 17 kills for the match. Calhoun added 16 kills with a match-high .517 hitting percentage to increase her career hitting percentage to .329, just .002 behind the career record for hitting percentage at Texas State.
Lindy DeGeare added 12 kills and a pair of aces, while Deardorff posted 10 kills for the Texas State offense.
Caleigh McCorquodale dished out 50 assists and added 11 digs for her eighth consecutive double-double and 17th overall this season.
Texas State now looks forward to competing for its seventh Southland Conference Tournament championship in the program's history. The Bobcats and Roadrunners will square off for the third time this season after splitting their regular season matchups. UTSA won the first match between the two teams back in September, and Texas State won the most recent matchup just more than one week ago.
Fans will have many different ways to catch all of the action in the 2 p.m. championship match on Sunday at the Farris Center in Conway, Ark. The SLC Television Network will broadcast the match on TV and can be found on the YNN Sports station 408 for Time Warner Cable subscribers and Grande channel 25. In addition, the match will be broadcast live online on www.ESPN3.com and www.southland.org.
Fans can also listen to all the action live on the radio via 89.9 KTSW in San Marcos and www.TxStateBobcats.com.
