South Alabama Tops Texas State In SBC opener

The Bobcats will remain home for their next match, which will be a noon first serve Sept. 24 against Troy.

San Marcos, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team opened Sun Belt Conference play with a 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 25-18) loss to South Alabama Friday night inside Strahan Coliseum.

The Bobcats (8-7, 0-1 SBC) suffered their fourth-straight setback and dropped their conference opener for the first time since 2011. The Jaguars improved to 6-5 on the year.

Junior Madison Daigle posted 12 kills to lead the maroon and gold, while senior Erin Hoppe (20) and true freshman Brooke Johnson (15) distributed 35 assists. Sophomore Micah Dinwiddie chipped in 17 digs, while classmate Amy Pflughaupt added 14 from the back row.

USA jumped on top by claiming the opening set 25-20. The Bobcats initially found a 13-10 lead, but the Jaguars used a well-placed timeout to go on a 9-2 run and swing momentum to the other side of the net. The two sides traded punches the rest of the way as the visitors fended off all rally attempts.

Texas State regrouped in the second frame and even found three set points with a 24-21 advantage, but South Alabama used five-straight errors from the maroon and gold to snatch the game at 26-24. The visitors then powered ahead in the third to close out the three-set triumph.

Symone Stephenson was the lone member of the visiting side with double-figure kills, as she reached 10. Parker Harrell had 15 assists and 12 digs, and Ashlyn Roberts chipped in 10 assists. Abby Baker led both teams with 19 digs.

USA posted match highs in attack percentage (.169-.042) and blocks (17-3). Texas State paced the evening in kills (38-34), assists (37-32), service aces (2-0) and digs (63-62).

The Bobcats will remain home for their next match, which will be a noon first serve Sept. 24 against Troy.

TEXAS STATE COACH KAREN CHISUM

Opening Statement…

“South Alabama outplayed us. That’s all there is to it. They’re a scrappy team, and they had fewer errors than we did. We had way too many hitting errors. We helped them a lot tonight. I’m disappointed. We didn’t have good play from our setters. We didn’t have good play from our hitters. USA outplayed us and outhustled us.”

On the momentum swing with losing three set points in the second frame…

“We had three consecutive errors. We were able to get three or four points ahead, but then we let them go on a run. That goes back to us. We had too many errors. But (South Alabama was) the better team tonight, so hats off to them.”

On the middle blockers…

“South Alabama had 17 blocks. That goes back to us. We’re hitting into the block, and we need to do a better job of that. If you look at the stats, you can see that we got our butts kicked tonight. We need to regroup tomorrow and be ready for Troy.”