ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas State volleyball program continued its winning ways Saturday night when the Bobcats knocked off UTA in three sets for the second time in the last three days.
The win moves Texas State to 4-2 in Sun Belt Conference play as well as made Bobcats winners in six of their last eight matches dating back to a three-set sweep of UTEP in Corpus Christi on Friday, Sept. 17.
Despite having five ties in the first set, Texas State (8-11, 4-2) never allowed UTA (3-12, 1-5) to take a lead. The Bobcats used a 6-1 run to take a 19-14 advantage. The Mavericks attempted to bounce back, but never managed to get to within more than two points, before Texas State closed out the set with four points over the course of six rallies.
Texas State raced out to a quick 7-point lead at 10-3 to start the second set. UTA cut its deficit to four at 16-12, but the Bobcats rallied back with four points in five rallies to make it 20-13. Another 4-point scoring run from Texas State set the stage for
Janell Fitzgerald's set point kill to give the Bobcats a 2-0 match lead.
The third set featured more of a battle with 15 either ties or lead changes up until Fitzgerald's service ace to give Texas State a 14-13 lead. A second service ace from Fitzgerald capped a 3-0 personal scoring run but was only the foundation for a 5-0 Texas State run that ended up being the longest scoring run by either team in the set. UTA got to within one — three times — down the stretch, but a kill by
Caitlan Buettner at 24-23 gave the Bobcats the win.
FROM HEAD COACH SEAN HUIET
"I thought we were really balanced tonight. Emily (DeWalt) did a great job of spreading the ball around. Janell (Fitzgerald) had a great, all-around match by leading us in kills, digs and (service) aces. It was a great team win."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY SET
- 1st | Texas State 25, UTA 21
- 2nd | Texas State 25, UTA 18
- 3rd | Texas State 25, UTA 23
MATCH NOTES
- With her 14-kill performance against UTA Saturday night, Texas State senior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald passed Jessica Weynand (2006-09) for 11th on the program's career kill list. Fitzgerald will enter next week's Arkansas road schedule with 1,222 career kills; just 33 shy of breaking into the program's career kill top 10 list.
- Saturday's match also marked back-to-back double-doubles from Fitzgerald against UTA after having 17 kills and 12 digs versus the Mavericks earlier in the week. She now has four double-doubles in six Sun Belt Conference games this season.
- With a second-straight three-set match between the two volleyball programs, Saturday's match marked the ninth-straight three-set match between Texas State and UTA dating back to a five-set match on Oct. 2, 2018. Dating back to Oct. 6, 2015, Texas State has won 15 of the last 16 matches against UTA.
UP NEXT
- Texas State will continue its conference road tilt when the Bobcats travel to Little Rock, Ark., to play Little Rock on Friday, Oct. 15. The Bobcats will travel over to Jonesboro, Ark., to play Arkansas State the following day on Saturday, Oct. 16. Both matches will begin at 6 p.m.
- For the latest information on the team, follow @TexasStateVball on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can also be at @TxStateBobcats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
