SAN MARCOS, TX — In a preview of a potential upcoming Sun Belt Conference Championship match, two titans of the conference went back-and-forth on a Friday night in San Marcos as Texas State (10-4, 2-1) and James Madison (9-3, 3-0) became the fifth Sun Belt on Sun Belt match to go five sets this season.
By virtue of taking sets two and fourth, Texas State became the first-ever Sun Belt volleyball program to win not one, but multiple sets against the Dukes. And, with the Bobcats winning the second set, it marked the first time in 13 consecutive sets over the course of five matches that James Madison dropped a set.
In front of an announced attendance of 1,050 on Friday night, Texas State battled throughout the night as the five-set match featured 25 tied scores — with nine in both the second and third sets, respectively — and five lead changes.
After James Madison took the match's opening set by two points, Texas State bounced back by becoming the first team since Florida A&M on Saturday, Sept. 3 to hold James Madison's offense to under 20 points in a set by allowing the Dukes to get to only 19 in the second set by limiting the offense to just a .185 attack percentage.
FROM HEAD COACH SEAN HUIET
"Tonight was frustrating. It's the same thing we've been talking about we're just too inconsistent right now. We knew JMU is a really good team, so they were going to game plan really well. And the most frustrating part for us, as a staff, is that we knew (Miëtte Veldman) and (Sophie Davis) were their go-to (student-athletes) and they did their job tonight. And some of our go-to people — some that are all-conference level — did not have their best nights. I thought
Lauren Teske did a great job off the bench. I probably should've gone to her a little sooner, but … it's frustrating in a way, but we have to learn from this and bounce back quick to be able to turn around and play them, again, at noon. I did like our composure to get it to the fifth set, though, because we were kind of wavering there for a little bit."
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY SET
- 1st | James Madison 26, Texas State 24
- 2nd | Texas State 25, James Madison 19
- 3rd | James Madison 25, Texas State 21
- 4th | Texas State 25, James Madison 22
- 5th | James Madison 15, Texas State 11
MATCH NOTES
- With her 17-kill performance Friday night, Texas State outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald passed Lawrencia Brown (2005-08) for second on the program's career kills list. Fitzgerald will enter Saturday's match against James Madison with 1,572 career kills, 138 shy of passing Makeda Smith (1994-98) for the top spot.
- By finishing the five-set match with 60 assists, Emily DeWalt passed Sarah Oesterling (LT, 1993-96) for second on the Sun Belt's career assist leaderboard. DeWalt, now with 5,395 career assists, needs only 298 more to pass Leslie Clark (MT, 2006-09) for the all-time record.
- Texas State's Jacqueline Lee finished with career-high numbers across the board as the sophomore defensive specialist capped the five-set match with eight digs, three assists and one service ace. Lee's service ace, which pushed the Bobcats' lead to 2-0 to open the fourth set, was the first of her career.
- Joining Lee in finishing with a career performance against the Dukes was senior middle blocker Tessa Marshall, who finished with a career-high 13 kills and only one attack error on 21 total attacks for a .571 attack percentage.
- Friday night's outcome marked the first time the Texas State volleyball program has dropped its home-opening conference match since losing a three-set match to South Alabama on Sept. 22, 2017.
- Texas State now drops to 2-1 all time under head coach Sean Huiet in five-set Sun Belt Conference matches.
- Friday night's match marked the first time since Oct. 11, 2013 that Texas State dropped a five-set Sun Belt Conference match at home.
UP NEXT
- Texas State and James Madison will conclude its two-match conference series at 12 p.m. CT / 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 1.
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.
