The Bobcats won their first postseason game in school history after sweeping Rice University 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-20) Nov. 30 inside Strahan Coliseum in the first round of the 2017 National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
The first period was very tightly contested. The Bobcats jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but a 2-0 run by Rice would tie the game up, that would happen nine more times. There was a total of 10 ties in the first period. With a score of 21-22 the Bobcats went on a 3-0 run to end the first period of the game.
The second period was back and forth as well, but not as much as the first period. The Bobcats started the period off on a 4-1 run and led half of the period when Rice went on their own run and tied the game up 12-12.
Rice didn’t stop there, they went on another 4-1 run to put the score at 16-13. The Bobcats fought their way back and tied the game back up at 17-17 and then went on an 8-4 run to close the period.
The third period was the easiest for the Bobcats, they only gave up the lead once during the period. After a 5-0 run halfway through, the Owls didn’t have enough energy left to make another comeback attempt losing the match 25-20.
Senior Jaliyah Bolden led the game with 19 kills, sophomore Megan Porter with 12 and junior Madison Daigle with nine. Sophomore Micah Dinwiddie led the Bobcats with 30 digs which helped the Bobcats win by more than 14.
With this win the Bobcats (25-9) have reached their highest win total since 2011 and the Rice Owls’ season is over.
Texas State will play the Texas Tech Red Raiders (16-14), who beat SMU 3-0 in the night’s first match. The NIVC Second Round will be held inside Strahan Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 1. Whoever wins will advance to the quarterfinals where they will face UC Irvine.