Texas State falls to SLU in five-set thriller

It was a rough start to the Bobcat Classic as the Texas State Bobcats fell to the Southeastern Louisiana Lions in a thrilling five set loss 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 2826, 19-25, 15-6).

It was a tough loss for Head Coach Sean Huiet with the team coming off of a upset sweep of then #13 ranked Houston.

“Credit to Southeastern,” Huiet said. “They make us work and we didn’t show up tonight. It’s disappointing and frustrating that we were not prepared tonight.”

The Bobcats got off to a rough start as the Lions jumped out to a 7-2 lead.

However a 6-2 run by the Bobcats cut the lead to 9-8.

The Lions were undeterred as Southeastern went on a 8-2 run to put Texas State in a 17-11 hole.

Texas State failed to give in as the Bobcats made another run and soon trimmed the Lions lead to 19-18.

But the Bobcats were unable to close it out as Southeastern won the first set at 25-21.

Texas State bounced back in the second set as the Bobcats jumped out to a 6-3 lead.

A 6-1 run by the Lions soon had Southeastern out in front at 9-8 before holding a 12-11 lead.

The Bobcats responded with an excellent 6-1 run as Texas State took the lead at 17-13.

Despite a furious Southeastern comeback, the Bobcats held strong and took the second set at 2523.

.The third set a competitive affair as both the Bobcats and the Lions traded the lead back and forth as Southeastern held a 12-9 lead.

But Texas State gained control of the set by going on a 6-0 run to take a 1512 lead.

Despite staving off the Lions comeback attempts, a 4-0 run by Southeastern soon had the Lions back out in front at 20-18.

A short 3-0 run by Texas State put the Bobcats back in front at 21-20 as the Cats fought off multiple attempts by the Lions to take the third set.

In the end, Texas State held strong, winning the third set in a tough 28-26 set win.

The fourth set saw the Bobcats get off on the wrong foot as the Lions jumped out to a 6-0 lead.

The run proved to be disastrous as Texas State was unable to lead during the entire fourth set as Southeastern took the set at 2519 to force a divisive fifth set.

Despite being tied at 3-3, the Lions responded with a 11-1 run to take a commanding 14-4 lead en route to a 15-6 set win to take the match.

One of the problems the Bobcats faced during the match was the Lions offense as the Bobcat defense had a tough time adjusting to Southeastern’s attack.

“Our block was not great tonight,” Huiet said. “Their outsides (hitters) were swinging away and we didn’t make the adjustments.”

The road does not get easier for the Bobcats as they will take on both Cal and Abilene Christian during the weekend.

“We’re going to talk about it tonight, but we have to bounce back,” Huiet said. “That’s the nature of our game is we come back pretty quick and play a good Cal team, a physical Cal team. I’m just frustrated because we didn’t play Texas State volleyball tonight. When we get back to our roots and we’re playing Texas State volleyball, you’ll see a different team tomorrow.”

Both the Cal and ACU games will be completed before press time.

Recaps of both games will be available online at the sanmarcosrecord.com

coltonbmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc