Bobcat Volleyball Routs Southeastern, Wins Third Straight

Texas State hosted the Southeastern Louisiana Lions on Saturday afternoon in Strahan Colisium. The Bobcats came into the match with a 5-3 record in conference play and were 11-12 overall following a three set Thursday victory over the Nicholls Colonels. SLU came in reeling from a home loss to the Lamar Cardinals on Thursday and sported a record of 6-13 overall and 2-6 in the Southland Conference.

The first set was a close one as the Bobcats took it 25-20. The Lions came out firing on all cyclinders as they got a quick couple of points on the Bobcats. Leading the charge for the Lions was Jessica Srajer and Courtney Donald they both a 2 kills a piece. However, the 'Cats rallied and were led by the trio of Jessica Weynand, AJ Watlington, and Matti Schumacher they all had 3 kills for the Cats. Defensively the lions were led by Lauren Mayer with 3 digs and for the Bobcats Lydia Werchan had 6 digs. The first set also saw a lot of lead changes 5 in total and the game was tied 13 times.

In the second set the Lions again came out on fire leading the charge for them was the trio of Allison Jones, Lauren Mayer, and Jessica Strajer all had 4 kills apiece. Defensively, they were led by Alex Greer who had 7 digs in the second set. The Lions also committed quite a few costly errors 13 in total in that second set to the Bobcats 11. The leading scorers for Texas State were AJ Watlington with 7 kills and Jessica Weynand who had 6. Lydia Werchan once again led the defense with 13 digs and on the net Amber Calhoun, AJ Watlington, and Jillian Wolpman all had 1 block a piece. There were 3 ties and 1 lead change in the set and the Bobcats ended up victorious, winning 25-21.

In the third set the Bobcats were the ones who took the lead early getting up 3 to nothing with Brittany Collins serving. However, in the end it was very close as Texas State led the whole match the Lions stayed it in and lost 25-20. Leading the way for the Bobcats was AJ Watlington who had ten kills and Amber Calhoun and Jessica Weynand each had eight kills a piece as well. On defense Lydia Werchan had 16 digs and Melinda Cave had eleven and the same team of Calhoun, Weynand, Watlington, and Schumacher held the defense around the net. SLU's Julie Elliot had eight kills while Courtney Donald and Allison Jones had seven, while on defense the Lions were led by Alex Greer with twelve digs and Arianne Cruckshank who had ten around the net.

With the win, Texas State improves to 12-12, 6-3 SLC and move up to second place in the SLC West Division. The Bobcats also moved into a tie for third place in the overall SLC standings with Stephen F. Austin, who sits in second place in the SLC East Division with a 6-3 Southland record. Texas State will look to tighten their grip on the third place spot in the Southland this week, as they take on SFA in a critical matchup in Nacogdoches at 7 pm on October 29th.

-TJ Ladusky, KTSW Sports Staff Writer