The Texas State volleyball team defeated the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-22, 25-14) Nov. 18 inside the convocation center in the semifinals of the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Championship.
Sophomores Megan Porter with 22 digs and 12 kills, and Amy Pflughaupt with 19 digs and 17 kills, both ended the game with double-doubles.
“We are lucky that Amy Pflughaupt came to Texas State,” said Head coach Karen Chisum. “We’re glad to have her. She really added some depth. We would have been in a little bit of a bind without her. Megan has grown tremendously since her freshman year. Those two players play full rotations and they’ve been pretty consistent. I can’t say enough about those two.”
The Bobcats also received some help from their two seniors Jaliyah Bolden, who had a hitting percentage of .310 and 13 kills in the game, and Erin Hoppe who had a total of 50 assists and a career-high five blocks on the game.
In the first set, the Bobcats took off to an 8-3 lead, following a kill from Pflughaupt, and ran the first period with a score of 25-16, however, the second set was a different story. The Bobcats lost 25-18 in the second set and only had the lead one time early on.
In the third set, the Bobcats and the Ragin’ Cajuns went back and forth all the way till the end of the set until the Bobcats put a 5-1 run together on the Cajuns and ultimately took the third set with a score of 25-22.
In the fourth set, the Bobcats ran out to a 5-0 lead and never looked back. They finished the game with a score of 25-14.
With the win, the Bobcats (24-8) were scheduled to play top seeded Coastal Carolina for the championship title Nov. 19.
Chisum said that either way they were going to have to play against one of two great players.
“We have to slow down either Leah Hardeman or Carlisa May,” said Chisum. “They’ve got two very dominating outside hitters. It’s going to come down to what we do on our side of the net.”
The No. 2 seeded Bobcats faced Coastal Carolina for the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Championship and lost 3-1 (25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 25-15).
The Chanticleers won their second Sun Belt Conference Championship in a row and are heading to the 2017 NCAA Volleyball Tournament.
The first set was a hard-fought period by the Bobcats, but the Chanticleers ultimately won 25-23. The second set was another back and forth between the Bobcats and the Chanticleers, but this time it was the Bobcats who came out with the win after an attack error by Kinga Windisch of Coastal Carolina.
The third set was full of runs from both teams. The Bobcats started off the period with a 3-0 run, but the Chanticleer followed that up with a 3-0 run of their own.
The Bobcats went on a tremendous 5-0 that kept them the lead until a 7-0 run by Coastal in the middle of the set making the score 15-12.
The Bobcats were able to take the lead back with another 4-0 run, but were unable to stay consistent throughout the rest of the match and ended up losing the period 25-23.
With the ending of the regular season, the Bobcats earned an automatic bid into the 2017 National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
The bracket for the tournament will be announced Nov. 26 following the NCAA Selection Show. The postseason berth will be the first for the Bobcats since 2013.