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Above, Texas State graduate student outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald strikes a ball during the Bobcats’ win over Southern Miss on Oct. 15 inside Strahan Arena. Daily Record photo by Gerald Castillo

‘Cats down Jaguars on the road, 3-1

Saturday, October 22, 2022

Something had to change as both Texas State and South Alabama did not back down Friday night, despite five match points between the two squads in the late stages of the fourth set.

Then Bobcat head coach Sean Huiet went with a gut feeling.

After graduate student outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald recorded her 25th kill to tie the set at 29-29, Huiet signaled towards the bench for his redshirt-junior defensive specialist from Buda. Kayla Tello subbed into the match for senior middle blocker Jillian Slaughter, whose spot in the rotation was due to serve.

No one on either team — other than Tello — served a volleyball for the remainder of the match.

Tello took the volleyball, pulled up her right sleeve, then bounced the ball six times. The 5-foot-6 defensive specialist took two steps, flung the volleyball into the air, and swung her right arm. She sent the ball flying towards South Alabama’s Briana Wilson, who ultimately committed a reception error to give Texas State a 30-29 lead.

Texas State, now with its third match point on the evening, had the momentum after its fifth ace in the match. And it paid off.

“Honestly, when (Coach Huiet) put me in, I just wanted to do it for my team,” Tello said. “Before every serve, I just try to stay calm and tell myself that I can do this. Then I go and try to execute just that.”

With Tello back to serve, again, she sent the volleyball towards Maddie Soboleski that altered South Alabama’s offense as after Soboleski’s reception made the connection between Kailey Keeble and Morgan Stalcup slightly untimed. This resulted in Fitzgerald being able to easily dig Stalcup’s attack, which led to Torres setting a perfect set for Fitzgerald who capped the match with her match-leading 26th kill.

Texas State (16-6, 8-1 Sun Belt) defeated South Alabama (13-8, 7-2), 3-1 (25-15, 25-19, 23-25, 31-29).

“It was crunch time and (Tello) has a really good serve,” Huiet said. “I thought about it the rotation before that, but Jill (Slaughter) has been serving great, too, so it’s not like Jill isn’t a great server. But I said to myself, “I think Tello has this,” so shoutout to going with the gut feeling, because it paid off in a huge way. I just knew (Tello) could do it.”

Alongside Fitzgerald’s match-high 26 kills, graduate student setter Emily DeWalt recorded 43 assists and sophomore defensive specialist Jacqueline Lee amassed a team-high 23 digs and two service aces. Fitzgerald notched six blocks against the Jaguars.

Texas State took on South Alabama for the second day in a row on Saturday. The match began after press time.

Information provided by Texas State Athletics

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