Texas State volleyball won its second matchup in a back-to-back against Houston Baptist, to move to 5-1 on the season.
The Bobcats won 3-1 (25-17, 25-20, 25-27, 25-16) on Sept. 19 against the Huskies.
Houston Baptist sophomore setter Ellie Wipf scored the first point of the match before the Bobcats went on to score six unanswered. Texas State sophomore outside hitter Lauren Teske led the team with six kills and 11 perfect serves in the set. The Bobcats led with a .433 hitting average against Houston Baptist’s .089 and won the first set 25-17.
The second set consisted of the Huskies holding a 15-14 lead, following back-to-back kills by junior outside hitter Kelly Colwell, a service ace and a kill by redshirt freshman hitter Reagan Leinen. The Bobcats fought back and won the set 25-20.
Texas State sophomore outside hitter Caitlan Buettner led the team with five kills in this set. She was a top hitter in the match with a total of 13 kills.
“I love how we are progressing,” said Sean Huiet, Texas State head coach. “The things we worked on in practice showed up this weekend on the court”.
In the third set, the Huskies bounced back with an 8-3 run against the Bobcats to put them in the lead, 23-21. The set ended 27-25 with the Bobcats trailing the Huskies.
“As a team, we played well. We were one kill away from having four players in double-digit kills, and I love that balance” Huiet said.
The fourth set was competitive, with Texas State at one point trailing Houston Baptist 9-7 after an attack error by Buettner. Texas State went on to score seven unanswered, and the set eventually ended with the Bobcats winning 25-16. Texas State led with a hitting average of .281.
Lauren Teske led the Bobcats in kills, attacks and points. She finished with 19 kills, 44 attacks, and 23.5 points overall. Junior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald led the team with a hitting average of .522. Junior setter Emily Dewalt provided 50 assists. Colwell and senior middle blocker Megan Patillo led the Huskies with nine kills, respectively. Wipf contributed 39 assists.
“I thought our defense was good spearheaded by Kayla [Granado] who had a phenomenal weekend in the libero jersey,” Huiet said. “Lauren [Teske] also had her best weekend as a Bobcat after she set consecutive career-highs in kills and digs”.
Texas State will begin conference play with the University of Louisiana Monroe Warhawks, 11 a.m., on Sept 25.