SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State (5-1) took down Houston Baptist (1-5, 0-1 Southland), 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 17-25, 25-16) to close its non-conference schedule Saturday afternoon at Strahan Arena.
 
As a unit, Texas State recorded a season-high nine aces and 73 digs. It was also the third time this season the Bobcats logged at least 10 total blocks. The Maroon and Gold had a .270 hitting percentage behind 60 kills, while HBU hit .159 with 47 kills and had eight blocks and three aces in the loss.
 
"I love how we are progressing," said head coach Sean Huiet. "The things we worked on in practice showed up this weekend on the court. I thought our defense was good spearheaded by Kayla [Granado] who had a phenomenal weekend in the libero jersey. Lauren [Teske] also had her best weekend as a Bobcat after she set consecutive career-highs in kills and digs. But as a team, we played well. We were one kill away from having four players in double digit kills and I love that balance.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Teske capped off a career weekend with her second straight double-double, and logged new career-highs with 19 kills, 14 digs, and three aces. Teske hit .318 in the match and had two blocks, including one solo. Junior outside Janell Fitzgerald followed with 14 kills and had a match-high .522 hitting percentage to go along with her three blocks. Sophomore OH Caitlan Buettner rounded out the game's top hitters with 13 kills in the win. Junior setter Emily DeWalt recorded her fourth consecutive double-double as she handed out 50 assists and dug 11 balls. DeWalt also totaled three blocks, including a career-best two solo blocks, and had a pair of kills and aces. Senior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott led all players with five blocks (one solo) and added nine kills, while junior libero Kayla Granado finished with a match-high 21 digs and season-high two aces. Senior setter Brooke Johnson also had two aces and logged eight digs.
 
No players for Houston Baptist finished with 10 or more kills, although two had nine kills and two had eight. Junior outside hitter Kelly Colwell had nine kills with 15 digs, while senior middle blocker Megan Patillo also had nine kills with a team-high five blocks. Senior outside hitter Mikayla Vivens chipped in eight kills and 16 digs to go along with a block and an ace, and freshman outside hitter Reagan Leinen had eight kills and one block. Sophomore setter Ellie Wipf led the offense with 38 assists and had three total blocks, and sophomore libero Marisabel Torres-Rivera had two aces.
 
The Bobcats lead the all-time series vs. Houston Baptist, 4-1 and are 3-1 when playing in San Marcos.
 
Set 1
Houston Baptist scored the first point of the match, but the Bobcats answered with a 7-0 run and took advantage of four Huskie attacking errors. The Bobcats grew its margin to as large at 11 behind a solid 13-2 scoring run and ultimately won the frame 25-17. Texas State registered a .433 clip behind six kills from Teske. who was errorless after 11 attacks (.545).  
 
Set 2
Although the Huskies led 7-5, the Bobcats were the first to 10 after the team's second ace of the match made the count 10-9. Houston Baptist went on to score five of the next nine points and had a 15-14 advantage by the media timeout. After the break, TXST began to pull away, scoring five of the next six points before HBU called for time with the scoreboard reading 19-16. The home team closed out the match with a 6-4 run, winning the frame 25-20. Buettner led that stanza with five kills on 11 swings with one error (.364).
 
Set 3
Texas State built a 7-5 lead behind a 3-0 run early in the set, but Houston Baptist outlasted the storm and led 15-14 at the media timeout. Teske sparked a Bobcat 3-0 run with a kill and an ace, and after DeWalt's kill HBU called for time. After another kill for TXST, HBU got hot and took a 23-21 lead behind an 8-3 run, forcing a Bobcat timeout. Fitzgerald found the floor with a couple of kills late and the Bobcats tied the set at 25, however, a Bobcat error and a Huskies' kill ended the set 27-25, forcing a fourth set.

Set 4
The visiting team opened the set with the momentum and jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Buettner's kill stopped the bleeding. Teske followed with her third ace of the match, but the Huskies built their lead back to 5-2. Texas State took its first lead of the set at 10-9 thanks to a 3-0 run which grew to a 7-0 run before, giving the Bobcats a 14-9. The Maroon and Gold never looked back as they took the set 25-16 with four kills from Buettner, Fitzgerald, and Scott.
 
UP NEXT
Sun Belt Conference play will begin Sept. 25-26 with three matches vs. ULM at Strahan Arena.
 
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