Texas State volleyball (10-1) came off of a 3-0 win earlier in the day to take a 3-2 comeback victory (14-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-15, 15-10) over the nationally-ranked Louisiana at Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (11-2) Oct. 16 in Lafayette, Louisiana.
The match marked the Bobcats’ 100th win in the Sun Belt Conference as their record moves to 10-1 overall and 5-0 in the SBC.
After a quick sweep this morning, the Bobcats had a much different start to the second match and rarely took the lead in the first two sets.
Louisiana, however, jumped out of the gate in the first set, taking advantage of middle court gaps in the Bobcat defense and forcing Texas State to a .026 hitting percentage to take the set 25-14.
The second set continued to look like a reversal from the day’s earlier match, but five kills from junior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald brought the ‘Cats to a closer deficit as they lost the second set 25-18.
With the match on the line, the Bobcats rallied to come back from the two-set deficit and win the last three sets. Going into the third set, Texas State began to regain the morning’s energy and tied the game up eight times before ending the closest set of the match with a 25-20 Bobcat win.
The Bobcats were able to take control early in the fourth set after a block from Fitzgerald and senior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott. Six Bobcat errors kept Louisiana in the set, but due to the Cajuns’ own ball-handling and hitting errors, the ‘Cats took the fourth match 25-15.
The fifth and deciding match began with a serve from junior setter Emily DeWalt and a double hit error from Louisiana. Continuing on, the Bobcats worked fast to take the lead in the 15-point final set. Junior libero Kayla Granado assisted the Bobcats on coverage of the Ragin Cajuns’ blocks and hits. Kills from Fitzgerald and the second-leading hitter of the game, junior outside hitter Kenedi Rutherford, helped the Bobcats win the final set 15-10.
The Bobcats had a hard time on their serves and committed 11 total service errors throughout the match, but the ‘Cats managed to lead in kills (58-56) and aces (5-0) to edge the Cajuns out of a win. The Bobcats also led with 57 assists, 49 of which came from DeWalt. The two teams tied with 83 total digs, with 21 completed by Granado and 15 from senior setter Brooke Johnson.
Fitzgerald led both teams with 24 total match kills, while Rutherford took 11 kills in her second start of the season.
The Bobcats will try to hold on to their seven-game winning streak when they take on the Ragin’ Cajuns for the final game of the series at 1 p.m. on Oct. 17 in Layfette.