MONROE, La. — With ULM maintaining momentum early in Friday afternoon's four-set match, Texas State volleyball head coach
Sean Huiet mixed something up to throw off the Warhawks.
His idea worked.
After Texas State (10-4, 2-0) evened the match at one set each following ULM (6-10, 0-2) taking the opening one,
Alyssa Ortega and
Kayla Tello ran to the Bobcat locker room before the start of the third set. Ortega, who opened the match as the Bobcats' libero, changed out of her white Texas State No. 21 jersey and into a black one signaling a move to defensive specialist. Tello, on the other hand, switched from a black Texas State No. 22 jersey to a white jersey, thus assuming libero duties.
Huiet said he credited the strategic change to Tello's ability to "serve the ball really well and being a pretty stable passer."
Tello, who had played in only four sets throughout three matches so far this season prior to Friday's action, nearly finished the match with her first career double-double as a result of the opportunity against the Warhawks. In just three sets played against ULM, the redshirt-junior defensive specialist finished with a season-high nine digs to go along with a career-high seven assists and career-high three service aces. Her three service aces led both teams and made up nearly half of the Bobcats' service ace total (8) on the afternoon.
Through all her statistics Friday, though, it's hard to argue against her biggest moments coming towards the end of the fourth set.
With
Jada Gardner having just tied the fourth set at 22-22 and Texas State looking to close out the day's action, Tello's spot in the rotation … rotated back up and it was time for the 5-foot-6 Buda native to serve, again. From that point, the Bobcats went on a 3-0 scoring run with two kills from
Jada Gardner and a service ace from Tello to end the match.
FROM HEAD COACH SEAN HUIET
"We are excited to start conference (play) 2-0, but I didn't really like our mindset today and that's something we've been talking about for a while now that consistency in trying to find that lineup which will consistently play well. We got some really good play from some people yesterday and, today, not so much, so I'm glad some of the substitutions stepped up today. I thought Lauren (Teske) did a great job off the bench. I thought Daleigh (Ellison) came in late and helped us. I'm excited to be 2-0, but we just have to continue to get better. ULM did a really good job of exploiting some things that we are working on, so we'll take that and adjust. But, overall, I'm glad to be getting out of here 2-0 and get ready for JMU (next week).
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY SET
- 1st | ULM 25, Texas State 15
- 2nd | Texas State 25, ULM 12
- 3rd | Texas State 25, ULM 18
- 4th | Texas State 25, ULM 22
MATCH NOTES
- Texas State freshman middle blocker Jade Defraeye earned her first career college volleyball start Friday afternoon. Defraeye, a native of Dunkirk, France, now joins Bailey Hanner and Maggie Walsh as members of the Bobcats' six-player freshmen class to have earned at least one start so far this season.
- By finishing with 47 assists during the match's four sets, Texas State setter Emily DeWalt passed Alison Howard (New Orleans, 1999-02) for third on the Sun Belt Conference's career assist leaderboard. DeWalt will enter next weekend's two-match tilt against James Madison just 37 assists shy of passing Sarah Oesterling (Louisiana Tech, 1993-96) for second place.
- The first set of Friday afternoon's match marked the first time the Bobcats have dropped a set to ULM since the second set of a four-set Texas State win on Oct. 29, 2016. TXST entered Friday's contest having won the last 44 consecutive sets against the Warhawks.
- With her 47-assist, 15-dig double-double against ULM on Friday, Emily DeWalt has now recorded back-to-back double-doubles in Texas State's first two Sun Belt matches of the year in four of her five seasons as a Bobcat. She has accomplished the feat as a true freshman (2018), sophomore (2019), senior (2021) and 'super senior' (2022).
- With Emily DeWalt leading the way with 47 assist, six different Bobcat volleyball student-athletes was credited with at least one assist on the afternoon: DeWalt (47), Kayla Tello (7), Ryann Torres (2), Jillian Slaughter (1), Lauren Teske (1) and Alyssa Ortega (1).
UP NEXT
- For the first time since Sunday, Sept. 11, the Texas State volleyball program will play a match inside Strahan Arena at the University Events Center, where the Bobcats will welcome conference newcomers James Madison for a two-match series. Texas State and James Madison, which was picked — by one first-place vote — to finish second in the Sun Belt's East Division, will begin its first-ever conference series on Friday, Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. CT.
FOLLOW US
- For the latest information on the team, follow @TexasStateVball on Twitter, @TxStateVolleyball on Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can also be at @TxStateBobcats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
