Bobcats Cruise Against Colonels in Three Sets

It was a huge win for the Bobcats as they dominated the Colonels in all three sets tonight at Strahan Coliseum. Texas State has secured its spot in third place of the Southland Conference West Division, while Nicholls State continued to slip further in the East Division. It has been a rough year for the Colonels thus far, and tonight was no exception.

Although the Nicholls squad played with intensity, they just seemed overmatched talent-wise when compared to the Bobcats. Texas State definitely capitalized on the mental mistakes made by the Colonels, and the final result reflected that. Not only were the Bobcats successful with powerful spikes that at times bounced off of the faces of Colonel defenders, but the Bobcats were also able to continue to execute a successful finesse game. Aware of the in-bounds lines, Texas State was able to find holes in the Nicholls defense and place balls in areas of the court where the defenders were not.

Texas State jumped ahead early winning the first set 25-18. The second set was a blowout of 25-11 in favor of Texas State, who doubled up on Nicholls for most of the set. To the surprise of Texas State fans, the Colonels came out playing hard in the third but it was just not enough to defeat the Cats, as the 'Cats recovered and pulled away for 25-15 set and match win.

Texas State key players AJ Watlington, Amber Calhoun and Brittany Collins all played aggressive games, defending the net with excessive blocks and efficient communication. Mo Middletown and Jessica Weynand played solid ball with 10 kills each and 15 digs between the two. After being awarded MVP of last season, Jessica currently leads the teams in kills and digs for the 2009 season.

After the game Mo Middletown commented that even though she wasn’t happy with the amount of errors she had tonight, she was still pleased with the team’s effort. Jessica Weynand also commented on the team’s play tonight, saying that the only things Coach Chisum would want the team to work on is keeping intensity through out the entire game and to continue limiting those costly mental errors. Coach Chisum said that she couldn’t be happier with the team’s performance tonight. “They did great, they executed exactly what they were suppose to,” said Chisum in a postgame interview.

Texas State improves to 11-12 overall and 5-3 in SLC play, while Nicholls drops to 9-13, 3-5 SLC. The Bobcats will play Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday at 2:00 pm, tune in at 1:45 for the KTSW pre-game show on 89.9 FM and ktsw.net.

-Lauren Scalise, KTSW Sports Staff Writer