Bobcats Surge Past Roadrunners In First Home Event

Texas State topples rivals 3-1 inside newly-renovated Strahan Arena, four reach double-digit kills.

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team collected its first win of the season with a 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23) triumph over UTSA Thursday night inside Strahan Arena.

The Bobcats (1-3) earned their first win of 2018 playing inside their newly-renovated home in front of the ninth-largest crowd in school history (1,638). The Roadrunners (3-1) suffered their first setback of the new campaign on the first night of the 2018 Creeds & Crests Classic.

Four different members of the home team reached double figures in kills, led by a 15-kill, 11-dig effort from junior Cheyenne Huskey. Senior Madison Daigle tied her career high with 16 kills, and she filled the stat sheet with six blocks, four assists and four digs. True freshman Janell Fitzgerald added ten kills, while junior Micah Dinwiddie posted ten digs.

True freshman Emily DeWalt registered 47 assists and 24 digs for the first double-double of her young career. She became the first Bobcat setter since Sept. 22, 2007, to finish a match with at least 24 digs (Shelbi Irvin, 25 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi).

UTSA’s Amanda Gonzales led the visiting offense with 48 assists. Shelby Williams had 22 digs, and Kirby Smith (14), Hannah Lopez (12), Hannah Froeschl (11) and Brianna McCulloch (11) all landed in double figures for kills.

The Bobcats finished the evening leading in all statistical categories, including kills (59-53), attack percentage (.236-.189), assists (56-51), aces (3-1), digs (68-52), and blocks (9-7).

SET 1

Texas State never trailed in the opening period to earn its first set triumph of the young campaign. The Bobcats used the force of the raucous home crowd to find an early 10-4 lead to force a UTSA timeout. The Roadrunners clawed back to within four at 16-12, but the maroon and gold held the visitors at bay before eventually pushing the advantage back out to the final eight-point margin of 25-17.

SET 2

UTSA equalized proceedings with a 25-20 victory in the second stanza. The Roadrunners found an early 13-7 advantage that proved to be too large a deficit for the Bobcats. TXST was able to get within three at 20-17, but the comeback attempt was thwarted after the two sides exchanged points the rest of the way.

SET 3

The pivotal third set went in favor of the home side by a 25-21 scoreline. The period featured eight ties, with the last coming at 21-21. UTSA led 17-13 at one point and maintained a four-point edge at 20-16. Texas State went on a 5-0 run, however, to take the lead for the first time since the video board read 3-2. TXST closed the set on a 9-1 run to swing momentum back to the home side of the net.

SET 4

The fourth and final set was even tighter than the third and saw nine ties and five lead changes. Neither team was able to find a lead greater than two points until a quick Bobcat 3-0 run broke a 20-20 deadlock. UTSA chipped the lead back down to one on two separate occasions, but Texas State needed just one match point to end the night on top.

The Creeds & Crests Classic will continue with four matches Aug. 31, beginning Incarnate Word against James Madison at 10 a.m. Abilene Christian will face UTSA at noon, and the Roadrunners will meet the Cardinals at 4:30 p.m. before TXST wraps up the day playing host to JMU at 6:30 p.m.