SAN MARCOS, Texas — Texas State volleyball split its series with South Alabama after a five-set loss on Saturday night in Strahan Arena.
Despite the loss,
Samantha Wunsch had her sixth-consecutive double-double to lead the Bobcats with 17 kills and a team-best 15 digs tonight.
Bailey Hanner had another eight-block night, while Wunsch had seven to go along with her double-double.
Nina Moorer,
Jade Defraeye and
Caelyn Emmerling each had double-digit kills on the night as well.
WHAT HEAD COACH SEAN HUIET SAID: "I'm frustrated, but I thought it was a good, competitive volleyball match. We knew South Alabama is a great team, we knew they were going to come back prepared today, I thought we cleaned up some things that we wanted to. We just honestly didn't perform in crunch time. We did some uncharacteristic things and when we needed some people to step up there in the fifth set, it just didn't happen."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Texas State started the match with momentum on its side with an effective attack, tallying 16 kills in the first set with a .310 percentage. The Jaguars struggled offensively, but six team blocks in the first set helped them stay in it, but Texas State won the first set 25-18. Wunsch tallied five kills and Moorer had four in the first set alone.
Set two was close throughout the first half of the set, but when South Alabama turned a 12-12 score into a 16-13 lead, the Bobcats were unable to close that gap. Despite just a few points separating the two sides, a late run helped South Alabama find a set two win while limiting the Bobcats to just a .194 attack line. Despite the Jags hitting .406, though, the Bobcats battled to keep the set close most of the way through.
Set three was an offensive set for both sides, with Texas State hitting .357 off a 19-4-42 attack line while South Alabama had 16 kills on 39 attempts with no errors for a .410 attack percentage. The two sides battled back and forth throughout with three lead changes, but ultimately a 4-0 run by the Bobcats to end the set gave Texas State the advantage.
Maggie Walsh tallied two of the kills in the 4-0 run, while a Wunsch kill started it and a Wunsch ace ended it.
Both sides were plagues with errors as the Jags won set four 25-23. Both sides hit below .200 with Texas State tallying 10 errors during the fourth set.
Caelyn Emmerling was a bright spot for the Bobcats in set four though, with five kills for her season-best 14 kill night.
The Bobcats lost momentum in the fifth set, though. South Alabama hit effectively, with an 8-1-13 attack line for a .538 percentage in the fifth set while forcing Texas State to hit .000. The Bobcats were also out blocked 3-0 in the fifth set. Those two categories helped South Alabama to a 15-9 win in set five to win the match.
After today's five set loss, Texas State is 8-9 on the season and 3-3 in Sun Belt play.
STAT LEADERS
SCORES BY SET
- 1st | Texas State 25, South Alabama 18
- 2nd | Texas State 20, South Alabama 25
- 3rd | Texas State 25, South Alabama 22
- 4th | Texas State 23, South Alabama 25
- 5th | Texas State 9, South Alabama 15
UP NEXT
Texas State will head back on the road for a rematch of the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Tournament Championship against Arkansas State on Oct. 17 and 18. The matches in Jonesboro will begin at 6 pm and 1 pm, respectively. Fans can tune in on ESPN+.
FOLLOW US
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