Texas State volleyball gave everything it had to earn a 3-2 win at James Madison on Friday night. After going down 2-0 to start the match, the Bobcats completed the reverse sweep to give the Dukes their just second loss of Sun Belt play.
Highlighting the night was a 21-kill night for Samantha Wunsch who led both teams in kills. That, alongside the Bobcat block with 10 team blocks helped Texas State to the win. Bailey Hanner reached her 300th career block in the affair, with four on the night. That, alongside Jade Defraeye’s six and another four from Nina Moorer helped the Bobcats to the win.
The Dukes started out the match with an 8-3 advantage that kept the Bobcats at bay to start. The team fought back, though, bringing the match within three at 18-15. The team was unable to mount the comeback though, falling 2521 despite battling throughout the entire set. Wunsch tallied four kills in the first set, followed by three from Maggie Walsh.
The Bobcats started the second set on a better foot, keeping the set within one to two points in the early stages of the set. It was a run by the Dukes in the middle of the set to make it 18-13 that put the space between the two sides again. Texas State fought to stay in the set, but James Madison was able to go up 2-0 and win the second set 25-19. Jade Defraeye highlighted set two for the Bobcats, though, with four kills to lead the team.
It became a match of two halves after that, though, despite a slow start for Texas State in set three. Texas State found themselves down 5-0 to start, coming back to tie things at 10 and again at 14 to keep themselves in the match. Eventually, the Bobcats pushed out to a 19-15 lead and forced the Dukes to a timeout. The Dukes didn’t go away, but a 6-1 run to end the set helped Texas State win 25-19. Wunsch continued to impress in the third set with five kills on nine swings to lead the team.
Set four started with an impressive serve run from Wunsch who helped the Bobcats get out to a 7-4 lead in the early stages of the set. They carried that momentum out to a 19-11 score. Wunsch added seven more kills to help Texas State to a 25-21 scoreline in set four. That, while limiting the Dukes to just 10 kills and six errors was key in the Bobcats efforts.
The Bobcats continued their battle in the fifth set with an early deficit to overcome. The Dukes started off the fifth set on a 5-0 run, which the Bobcats battled back to tie at 10. From there, a 40 run gave Texas State all they needed to take the match. In the end, it was a 15-12 score in set five for Texas State to complete its first reverse sweep of the season.
After today’s five set win, Texas State is 15-11 on the season and 10-5 in Sun Belt play.
