AUSTIN, Texas – Texas State fell at No. 2 Texas in straight sets (19-25, 18-25, 18-25) Monday night at the Frank Erwin Center. 

The Bobcats (27-5, 15-1 Sun Belt) dropped its second straight match and hit .162 behind 32 kills with 30 assists. They also finished with 43 digs, four blocks, and three aces. The Longhorns (18-0, 14-0 Big 12) registered a .298 hitting percentage on 45 kills and 38 assists. They also tallied 44 digs, 10.5 blocks, and seven aces in the win.

"We are never going to be happy about a loss but I thought we saw some good things tonight," said head coach Sean Huiet. "Defensively, we worked on being more disciplined and that showed tonight. We did not serve as tough as I would have liked and we gave up too many easy points. When you play a team like Texas, you need to make them work harder to score and frustrate them. We will learn from this and be ready to battle when they come to San Marcos."

Junior outside hitter finished with 10 kills (.194) and is now 12 kills shy of becoming the 17th Bobcat to reach 1,000 career kills. Fitzgerald also had two blocks to lead the team, as did senior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott who also added seven kills on 11 swings with one error (.545). Junior middle Jillian Slaughter also had two blocks. Junior setter Emily DeWalt logged career double-double No. 51 with 24 assists and 10 digs. Senior libero Brooke Johnson paced the team with 14 digs, and junior defensive specialist Kayla Granado had two of the team's three aces. 

Sophomore opposite Skylar Fields had a match-high 13 kills on 24 attacks with a couple of errors (.458), and junior middle blocker Brionne Butler followed with 10 kills on 18 errorless swings (.556). Butler also had a match-high seven blocks. Junior setter Jhenna Gabriel recorded 31 assists, four blocks, and four digs. Both junior outside hitter Logan Eggleston and freshman libero Nalani Iosia had 11 digs to lead the team, but Eggleston also had a match-high three aces to go along with eight kills and two blocks.

Set 1
The Longhorns opened the set with a 7-3 lead, but the Bobcats used a 4-2 run to trim the deficit, 9-7. UT pushed its lead back to five, however, and led 15-10 at the media timeout. Moments later, the home team expanded its margin to 20-14 but the Bobcats had a final push to force a Texas timeout thanks to another 4-2 run, making the score 22-18. The Longhorns responded by scoring three of the final four points to win the frame 25-19. TXST did hit .237, but UT turned in a .359 hitting percentage and had three blocks. Scott led the Bobcats with four kills on four errorless swings, while Buettner and Fitzgerald each had three kills. 

Set 2
Texas scored the first three points and stretched its lead to 9-3 before Texas State called a timeout. UT pushed its lead to 18-10 behind a 4-0 run and led by as many as nine points at 21-12. The Bobcats did not go away quietly and scored six of the final 10 points, but the Longhorns won the stanza 25-18 to take a 2-0 match lead.

Set 3
The Bobcats took its first lead of the night at 3-1 thanks to a 3-0 run early in the set. After tying the score twice, the Longhorns took a 12-5 lead behind an 8-0 run and led by as many as 10 points. The Bobcats pieced together an 8-2 run to make the count 22-18, but the Longhorns closed the door by scoring the final three points to win 25-18.

UP NEXT
Texas State will welcome No. 6 Baylor in its spring home-opener at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 10 at Strahan Arena in San Marcos, Texas.
 

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