HATTIESBURG, Mississippi — The Bobcats notched its first conference road win of the 2023 season in a dominant fashion Friday night, beating Southern Miss 3-1 and going for three straight set wins to do so.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first set saw a lot of battles between the Bobcats and the Golden Eagles. Southern Miss was able to get off to a lead early in the set and despite the team's best efforts, the Bobcats couldn't catch up. After bringing things close at 18-17, the home side went on a 7-2 run to end the set, and despite the Bobcats only allowing them to hit .100, it was enough to win them set one.
From there though, the Bobcats battled for a win. Set two was back and forth with twelve tied scores and four lead changes. At one point, the Bobcats were down 14-13, but from there, they gritted out the set win. After being down a Childs kill and a pair from Wunsch swung momentum back for the Bobcats. From there a pair of kills by
KJ Johnson and a service ace from
Alyssa Ortega helped the Bobcats find themselves within striking distance of the set win. It would be
Bailey Hanner for one of her five kills of the night to put an exclamation mark on the 25-22 win in set two. After improving its swinging to a .387 percentage in set two, the Bobcats felt good heading into set three.
Set three started close again, but the Bobcats pulled away much earlier on. When things were tied up at seven, the a service error by Southern Miss would start a small run for the Bobcats where they'd wind up ahead 14-9. From there, it was about finding ways to get points. The Bobcats weren't getting kills on every swing, but between the defense grinding 20 digs and four team blocks in set three, and Southern Miss hitting just .108, the Bobcats got the 25-17 win in set three.
After getting comfortable through set three and finally playing its style of volleyball, the team went full throttle in set four. The Bobcats were up comfortably 10-4 when Southern Miss took a timeout that fueld the Bobcats even further, helping them go on another 7-2 run. That run, highlighted by back-to-back services aces for
Carlee Pharris, was enough to five the Bobcats the momentum needed through the end of the set. Pharris would earn another service ace,
Jade Defraeye would earn two more kills, and a handful of errors by the home side would help the Bobcats earn a massive 25-11 win in set four.
This match was the first time this season that the Bobcats lost a set one and won three straight sets to win the match.
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY SET
- 1st | Southern Miss 25, Texas State 20
- 2nd | Texas State 25, Southern Miss 22
- 3rd | Texas State 25, Southern Miss 17
- 4th | Texas State 25, Southern Miss 11
MATCH NOTES
- The Bobcats are 11-7 on the season and 4-3 in Sun Belt Conference play with the win over Southern Miss. This was the Bobcats first road conference win of the season.
- Head coach Sean Huiet sits at 86 career wins, with an 86-35 record in his four-year tenure at Texas State. He has a 47-8 record in Sun Belt Conference games.
- KJ Johnson had a career-high 19 digs to earn her seventh double-double as a Bobcat. She had 16 kills and 19 digs on the night, leading the Bobcats in both categories.
- Olivia Adair had a career-high seven digs against Southern Miss.
- Carlee Pharris had a career-high five aces tonight.
UP NEXT:
The Bobcats will see the Golden Eagles again tomorrow, Oct. 14
th at 2 p.m. inside the USM Wellness Center. Texas State will then return home for a pair of "Dig Pink" matches with South Alabama where the Bobcats will welcome back alumni including the 2013 and 2003 Championship winning teams. Get your tickets at txst.com/tickets.
FOLLOW US
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