TXST VOLLEYBALL
In a five set thriller, Texas State knocked off the South Alabama Jaguars to win 3-2 [25-21, 22-25, 17-25, 25-21, 18-16].
The win of the Bobcats gives South Alabama their first conference loss of the season, as Texas State improves to 8-8 overall and 3-2 in conference play. “I just was telling them we needed that,” Head Coach Sean Huiet said. “Y’all have seen us be battle-tested and come up on the other side. So I felt against a really good South Alabama team [who] came in here 4-0, we talked about making a statement and getting back to our style of volleyball.
“Every night here in the Sun Belt, it’s going to be a dog fight, and [you saw] what we’re up against. So it was nice to come out on top.”
The Bobcats jumped out to a 7-2 lead on the Jaguars in the first set, Texas State pushed their lead to 14-10 but a 6-2 run by South Alabama tied the game at 16-16.
Later in the first set, both the Bobcats and Jaguars were soon up again at 20-20.
However, Texas State closed out the first set on a 5-1 run to win 25-21.
The second set was a competitive back-andforth as both teams were tied at 10-10.
The Jaguars went on a 5-1 run before taking their largest lead of the set at 20-14. Texas State responded with a 6-0 run, highlighted by a kill and two serving aces from redshirt junior Samantha Wunsch, as the Bobcats tied the game at 21-21.
South Alabama briefly held the lead before Texas State tied the game up again at 22-22 following a kill from sophomore Caelyn Emmerling.
But the Jaguars closed out the second set on a 3-0 run to win the second set 25-22 and tie the match at 1-1.
In the third set, Texas State and South Alabama were tied at 8-8 following a kill from Bobcat outside hitter Nina Moorer before the Jaguars went on a 5-1 run to lead 13-9. The Jaguars later pushed their lead to 21-14 before winning the third set 25-17 to lead the match 2-1.
On the brink of defeat, the Bobcats looked to rally in the fourth to force a fifth set.
“It was really just reminding ourselves that we have proven to ourselves that we can always come back no matter what the score is in a
