Junior Outside Hitter Samantha Wunsch had 15 Kills and 17 Digs as the Texas State Bobcats (8-8, 3-2 SBC) came alive Thursday afternoon and clawed back from a 2-1 set deficit to defeat South Alabama (9-7, 4-1 SBC) 3-2 in a homecoming victory.
Even though Texas State trailed South Alabama in most statistical categories, the Bobcats grounded out an impressive win. Headlining the victory was Wunsch and Senior Middle Blocker Bailey Hanner, who both stacked double-digit points, kills and total attacks.
“We have proven to ourselves that we can always come back, no matter what the score is, we can always fight,” Hanner said, “Sometimes it feels like it’s ‘us versus us’, but especially tonight during that fifth set, it was ‘us versus [South Alabama], nothing else mattered.”
The Bobcats, after taking the first set of the match, found themselves in trouble after the Jaguars took consecutive sets, which placed intense pressure on Texas State with their division rival on the edge of an important victory.
What came after was the Bobcats slowly but surely coming alive in the latter half of the match before ultimately sealing the victory and giving the Jaguars their first conference loss of the season.
The win elevates the Bobcats back to .500 on the season and keeps them well in contention for the Sun Belt Conference West Division title.
“Here’s the best part: we gutted [this win] out and it still wasn’t our best volleyball,” Head Coach Sean Huiet said. “We have another level we can go to. Offensively, there are things we want to correct, but we know tomorrow will be a dogfight.”
Despite the offense being a bit sluggish throughout the match, Texas State’s defense and serving did their part in filling in the gaps the offense left behind.
“I think our serving helped them in making some errors at the right times… It doesn’t have to be pretty”, Huiet said. “We’ve had some matches where we didn’t get the result we wanted, but we still felt like we were gutting it out.”
Junior Outside hitter Brooke Bentke contributed heavily during the latter sets. Beyond her own service ace and solo block, Bentke notched sixteen digs and an impressive .400 Kill Percentage.
“Amazing, I didn’t even know what was going on,” Bentke said as she spoke of being on the court for the final ace by Wunsch to force the first of four match points. “But I heard everyone cheer and I knew we got this.”
The Bobcats face the Jaguars again Saturday night at 6 p.m. in Strahan Arena. Then it’s another road trip for Huiet and Co., as they head to Jonesboro to face the Red Wolves of Arkansas State on Oct.17 and 18. All games will be streaming on ESPN+
TEXAS STATE STAT LEADERS
· Kills – Samantha Wunsch (15)
· Assists – Anna Blaine (34)
· Blocks – Bailey Hanner (8.0)
· Digs – Samantha Wunsch (17)
SCORES BY SET
· 1st | Texas State 25, South Alabama 21
· 2nd | Texas State 22, South Alabama 25
· 3rd | Texas State 17, South Alabama 25
· 4th | Texas State 25, South Alabama 21
· 5th | Texas State 18, South Alabama 16
