Published: November 21, 2008 10:53 am      

Bobcats ready to defend title

College Volleyball

Nacogdoches — The Texas State volleyball team will try to net another NCAA appearance as it begins play today in the Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament. The top-seeded Bobcats will face off against No. 8 seed Northwestern State today at 4 p.m. at Stephen F. Austin’s William R. Johnson Coliseum.

The winner of the SLC tourney receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Bobcats claimed their fifth regular-season title and first consecutive crowns since the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

The last time the Bobcats played the Lady Demons was on Oct. 18, where Texas State beat Northwestern at home 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-22).

This weekend the Bobcats will be led by a stellar senior class. Emily Jones Wilkes, Amy Weigle and Lawrencia Brown were all named to the Southland Conference All-Conference teams. Also, being named to the all-conference team was sophomore Jessica Weynand, who was runner-up for SLC Player of the Year.

The Bobcats will enter the tourney with a 21-13 record overall, 14-2 in the SLC. Texas State’s two losses were against UTSA and Lamar. They finished the regular season winning 11 of their last 12 games.

All seven matches of the Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament are available on SLC NOW, the conference's streaming video and audio channel at www.southland.org. Subscriptions to view a single match are $5.95, or all seven matches are available for $9.95.

In addition to web streaming, the championship match will be televised on the Southland Conference Television Network. Doug Anderson, who has handled football play-by-play on Southland TV, will call the championship match. He will be joined by Jenny Orndorff, the SLC’s Associate Commissioner for Marketing and Promotions, and former Stephen F. Austin volleyball student-athlete. The game will be aired locally on Time Warner Cable Ch. 77 and Grande Ch. 17.