LAFAYETTE, La. – Texas State survived a five-set thriller (25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 13-25, 15-12) at UL Lafayette Friday night in
Caylin Mahoney's return to the court to improve to 16-10 on the season and 11-3 in the Sun Belt Conference. The win keeps Texas State undefeated in nine meetings with UL Lafayette in history.
In the eight previous meetings with the Bobcats, the Ragin' Cajuns have never won more than one set. Friday night, the Bobcats were up 2-0, and then the match turned spooky for Halloween. UL Lafayette came back to win the third and fourth sets, but the Bobcats had a strong start to gain control in the fifth set and persevered for the team's first road victory since Sept. 27 at Troy.
Mahoney gave out 39 assists with 17 digs for a double-double in the Sun Belt Conference's 2014 Preseason Setter of the Year's first match of the season. She added six kills and a block in the match.
Sierra Smith helped with the setting duties, giving out 11 in the match, and leading the Bobcats and all players in digs with 24 in the match.
Alexandra Simms and
Jordan Kohl both led Texas State offensively with 11 kills each, but Mahoney was able to get a number of players involved with
Keeley Davis finishing with eight kills,
Lauren Kirch and
Amanda Watkins each had seven, and
Kelsey Weynand added five more. Kirch led the Bobcats in blocks with five, but Kohl was in on four.
The Ragin' Cajuns started on a 3-0 run and pushed the lead to 6-1 after Texas State scored. The Bobcats, however, came storming back with kills from Kohl and Davis along with consecutive blocks with Kirch in on both of them. Thanks to a ULL hitting error, Texas State pulled ahead, 7-6.
Later in the set, down 15-13, the Bobcats put a run together to go ahead, 17-15. A ULL error was the first point of the run, but Smith served up an ace and Kirch followed it with a kill. A block from Kohl and Kirch was the next point to put Texas State up two, 17-15, and force a timeout from UL Lafayette.
The Bobcats came out on top in the opening frame, 25-23, thanks to a number of hitting errors down the stretch from UL Lafayette. The Ragin' Cajuns finished the first frame with eight hitting errors and two service errors.
Both teams started the second set even until the Bobcats held an 8-7 lead. The Ragin' Cajuns rifled off four consecutive points to go up 11-8. Chanelle Gardner of ULL started the run with a kill. After that, Texas State committed consecutive errors followed by a kill from ULL setter Andrea Hole.
After a timeout from Texas State, the Bobcats went on a run of their own. Two UL Lafayette errors pulled the Bobcats within one, 11-10. Next, Mahoney made an impressive dig to set up Watkins for a kill to tie the second set. Another ULL error put the Bobcats up, 12-11, before the Ragin' Cajuns could break the run with a kill of their own. However, it would be the last point UL Lafayette would score for quite a while.
The Bobcats pushed the lead all the way to 20-12 to gain complete control of the second set. Watkins and Kohl each hit two kills around some ULL errors to put the Bobcats up 19-12. The 20
th TXST point came on Watkins' third kill in the run.
The Ragin' Cajuns fought back in the second set and pulled within three points, 23-20, and eventually two points, 24-22. Texas State, however, stayed the course and finished ULL off in the second frame to gain a 2-0 lead before the intermission.
Both teams played back and forth throughout much of the third set with both improving their hitting percentages. Both teams only committed four errors in the third set with UL Lafayette holding the edge in hitting percentage at .263 to Texas State's .225. The Ragin' Cajuns finished the set with one more kill than Texas State, 14-13, and it proved valuable in a hotly contested 25-23 set UL Lafayette was able to win to stay alive.
The Ragin' Cajuns carried the momentum from the third set into the fourth set, taking control of the match with a 25-13 fourth-set victory. The Bobcats, however, started the fifth set with a 3-1 lead. Kohl hit two kills and the Bobcats scored on a ULL error to start the final set.
Kohl had the first three kills of the fifth set until Weynand put the Bobcats up 6-3 with a kill. After her, Kirch, Simms and Mahoney each struck kills to put the Bobcats up 9-5. After another Kohl kill to give Texas State a 10-5 lead, UL Lafayette needed a timeout. After the timeout, Kohl hit her fifth kill of the frame and Kirch added one more. The rest of the Bobcat points came on ULL errors to help Texas State clinch the match.
Head Coach Karen Chisum on the victorySetter Caylin Mahoney on her return and the win
