Texas State volleyball secured their fourth-straight sweep with two easy wins over the weekend, sweeping Georgia State on Friday and Georgia Southern on Saturday at home.
The wins, which marked their ninth sweep of the season and eleventh win in the past 13 games, moved the ‘Cats to 14-7 and 6-1 in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Bobcats took Strahan by storm and swept Georgia Southern 25-10, 25-15, 25-13 for their 18th consecutive conference win at home on Saturday. Georgia Southern dropped to 6-11 and 1-5 in the Sun Belt Conference.
The ‘Cats kicked off the first set with a 14-3 advantage before Georgia Southern burned their second timeout. The following two sets they stayed hot as they gained an early lead in both sets. Georgia Southern kept the third set closer coming back from a 17-6 deficit before scoring six of the next eight points to cut the margin to 19-12. The Bobcats stopped the Eagles in their tracks, however, blowing the match out with a 6-1 run to finish the set 25-13.
Head Coach Karen Chisum said that the team swept both Georgia teams by landing kill after kill and taking an offensive stance.
“That was (an) all-around good match for us,” Chisum said. “We hit .449, so you cannot complain about that, and we kept Georgia Southern from getting in any kind of rhythm. We served well and had nine aces. If there is one thing we have to improve, it is our blocking, but that will come.”
The Bobcats recorded a season-high hitting percentage with 49 kills on 89 swings and nine errors. Texas State took the game in kills (49-23), hitting percentage (.449-.139), assists (41-22) and aces (9-1).
The sweep came after another commanding win at Strahan on Friday for the annual Pink Out match. The ‘Cats dominated Georgia State from start to finish on Friday, sweeping the Panthers 25-10, 25-6, 25-17 to improve their home winning streak to six.
Chisum said the team had a solid performance but could always do better and praised the crowd turnout for the Pink Out game.
“I told the kids that we are pretty good and steady right now but by November we still have to be better,” Chisum said. “We dominated and had very few errors. That was great, and we really had a great crowd tonight. I am glad as we raised money for breast cancer awareness.”
Freshman outside hitter Lauren Teske led the team with nine kills, while junior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott was just behind with eight kills, a .438 attacking percentage and a match-high five blocks. Sophomore Jillian Slaughter hit a match-high .778 after recording seven kills. Sophomore Emily DeWalt paced both teams with 29 assists and recorded four digs, three kills, two aces and two blocks. Senior outside hitter Cheyenne Huskey led the team with 11 digs and added six kills and four blocks.
DeWalt said her teammates’ adaptability is the reason she was able to make plays and set them up for kills.
“My teammates were always ready for the set no matter where I was,” DeWalt said. “The passing struggled in the beginning but we picked it up and they were ready and dominated tonight. Our loss against Arkansas State lit a fire under our butts to be better.”
The team has used that loss and the pressure of conference play to practice even harder than before, junior libero Brooke Johnson said.
“We have increased the intensity in our practices lately,” Johnson said. “Now that it’s conference, it’s more motivating to get in the gym because we know we have to win.”
Texas State will finish its home stretch next weekend with 6:30 p.m. matches against Troy Friday and South Alabama on Saturday.
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