TXST VOLLEYBALL
Texas State volleyball finished out their regular season Sun Belt in statement fashion with a fiveset win over Sun Belt regular season champion James Madison on Friday night.
Leading the way for the Bobcats was Samantha Wunsch with 20 kills and nine digs on the night. That, alongside double-double efforts from Dylan Gilkey and Alyssa Clark helped the Bobcats to the five-set win. Clarks’ double-double was the first of her career with 10 assists and 18 digs. Jade Defraeye also recorded eight blocks on the night, her third 8+ blocking night in the last four games.
Set one was balanced between the two teams in the early stages, but a 5-2 run through the middle of it gave James Madison an 18-11 lead. From there, the Dukes were able to coast through to the end of the set to win 25-18. Wunsch started the first set off with six kills on 13 swings enroute to her 20-kill night.
The second set was similar but tilted in the Bobcats favor when Texas State went on a 4-1 run at the media timeout to put themselves up 1915. From there, back and forth points were traded between the two sides but Texas State was able to come away with a 2519 set win. The Bobcats capitalized off four Duke service errors in the second set to help them to the win.
Set three was the Bobcats best of the night, though. Texas State swung an even .500 with an 18-2-32 attack line, highlighted by six kills from Maggie Walsh and Wunsch. The Bobcats did that, while limiting the Dukes to just nine kills with four attack errors. It was a serve run from Wunsch that took a tied 5-5 score all the way to a 13-5 lead for the Bobcats that made the difference in the set. Texas State ended the set on another five-serve run from Clark. Texas State won set three 25-13, handing James Madison one of their worst set scores of the season.
The Dukes rebounded in set four, though. Despite Texas State out blocking the Dukes five to zero, the Dukes recorded nine service aces to give themselves a cushion through most of the set. The Bobcats swung .269 with 10 kills but fell 25-22 due to the Dukes’ serve success.
The Bobcats punched back in the fifth set though, starting out on a 6-0 run courtesy of a Walsh serve run. After back-to-back blocks to start the set, Walsh served two aces then forced the Dukes into two attack errors. The Bobcats took their six point lead and pushed it to seven in the end, with a Walsh ace on match point to seal the win. Texas State won set five 15-8.
After today’s five-set win, Texas State is 16-11 on the season and 11-5 in Sun Belt play. The team will finish the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt West Division where the Bobcats will take on Coastal Carolina in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Texas State won the two previous meeting against the Chanticleers
