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Beaumont, Texas – Texas State beat Lamar in Beaumont for the first time since 2004 on Friday evening at McDonald Gym as the Bobcats recorded its second sweep of the day by scores of 25-18, 25-22, 25-15. The team finished 2-0 on the first day of the Lamar Invitational and will play one match tomorrow to wrap up tournament play.

The Bobcats (3-3) played consistently in all facets throughout the match in tallying their best performance so far this season. The team led Lamar (3-4) in each statistical category including hitting percentage as the team hit a season-high .297 for the match. The Bobcats were especially effective on the attack in the third set as the team posted a .450 hitting percentage.

Caleigh McCorquodale spread the ball around in the first set, finding five different Bobcats for kills as she distributed 10 assists. Amari Deardorff came out strong for Texas State, putting down four kills on eight attempts to pace the offense. After five tie scores early in the set, the Bobcats took the lead at 11-10 and held it the remainder of the set. Deardorff put down her fourth kill of the set to give the team set point and Sierra Smith followed with an ace to give the team the seven-point victory in the first set.

Lamar pulled ahead early in the second set and held a five-point lead when the serving of sophomore Laura Whalen brought the Bobcats back, igniting a four-point run that made the score 15-14 in favor of Lamar. Texas State then briefly tied it up at 16-16 before Lamar retook the lead late at 21-19. Texas State would go on a 5-0 run to take the lead for the first time in the set since leading 2-1 to take a 24-21 lead. After Lamar ended the run to make it 24-22, McCorquodale went to freshman Morgan McDaniel who put down her eighth kill of the match to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead in the match.  

Unlike the third set, Texas State did not have to play catch-up late as the Bobcats took an early lead and never let Lamar back in the set. After leading 4-1 on a kill from McDaniel, the team would go on an 11-4 run that gave the team a 10-point cushion, 15-5, and forced Lamar to burn its second timeout. The home team made a small run following the timeout, but another Texas State push down the stretch finished out the match with a 25-15 score in the final set.

McDaniel had an outstanding match offensively for Texas State, finishing with nine kills and a match-high .615 hitting percentage. The freshman also contributed a pair of blocks.

Alexandra Simms also notched nine kills along with three blocks, while Ashlee Hilbun had eight kills, a .364 hitting percentage and three blocks for the match.

McCorquodale guided the Texas State offense to its season-high hitting percentage while handing out 28 assists for the match and coming up one dig shy of her third double-double of the season.

Whalen led the team with 10 digs, while McCorquodale had nine and Patti Bradshaw finished with eight to go along with a team-high two aces.

Texas State wraps up the two-day Lamar Invitational on Saturday morning with a match at 10 a.m. against Tulane. Fans can access live coverage through www.TxStateBobcats.com 

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