In front of more than 1,000 fans in attendance hoping to see the team before they go on a month long road trip, Texas State swept Lamar 3-0 [25-6, 25-18, 25-13] in a scrimmage to usher in the 2024 season.
Head Coach Sean Huiet saw what he wanted from his team after the Bobcats had a strong preseason.
“We did exactly what we talked about,” Huiet said. “We wanted to play with a lot of people. We had a really good preseason and saw a lot of really good things. It was nice to see it transform on the court. I’m very pleased with the effort and obviously the outcome today.”
Coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance, the first in program history to qualify as an at-large bid, the main focus for Huiet and the Bobcats was to continue their strong defense from last year while picking up their offensive pace. “Last year we were very defensive,” Huiet said. “We dug the ball and blocked well. We want to get our offense back into it and establish our offensive middles. I thought we did a really good job tonight. That has been our big focus to maintain how defensive we were last year, but we want to pick up our offense a little bit.”
A key piece into the Bobcats looking to increase their offensive output is added depth.
Against the Cardinals, Texas State had 36 kills overall with eight players having three or more kills, including senior setter Ryann Torres and freshman outside hitter M.J. Mc-Curdy.
With the addition of redshirt sophomore Samantha Wunsch and junior Maggie Walsh, the Bobcats will look to make offensive depth a strength for this season.
“My favorite thing about this team is that we are deeper than we’ve ever been,” Huiet said. “We can go to our bench when we need to when people are having off-nights. Someone comes in, and we don’t skip a beat. That offensively is going to help us, and it’s going to be hard to scout us. When you can spread the ball like that and produce, it’s going to be a fun season if we can continue to do that.”
McCurdy, who led the team with seven kills, sees first hand that the newly added depth has helped the team.
“It helps a lot in practice,” McCurdy said. “It is so competitive because everyone’s good and there are so many good people in every position.”
Torres credited the depth with the number of players that improved their game over the past offseason.
“We have made huge strides starting in the summer,” Torres said. “It is exciting to see what we can build off of that.”
During the Bobcats scrimmage against Lamar, a key factor for Huiet that the Bobcats needed to focus on was having a good start.
Texas State responded by jumping out to a 12-1 lead before defeating Lamar in the first set 25-6.
“The other night we talked about how we are so excited in our scrimmage that the nerves and the excitement got to us, and we started out sluggish,” Huiet said. “I thought it was a good thing that we had the scrimmage to get all of that out. … I thought they did a really good job of focusing on what we needed to do, win the serve-pass game. That set the tone for the night.”
A key part in the Bobcats success was Torres who had three serving aces during Texas State’s 12-1 run.
“Starting I was the first server so my job is the first two over and in,” Torres said. “Once you get into a rhythm, now I’m trying to face them off the court. Just having an aggressive but calm mindset really helps me.”
The first set set the tone for the Bobcats who swept Lamar in the second and third sets.
Texas State is starting their road in Houston for the Rice Tournament.
The Bobcats will play Houston Christian Thursday at 10 a.m. before playing Texas Southern at 4 p.m.
cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc
Texas State unveiled their updated banner honoring the 2023 team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament. Daily Record photo by Colton McWilliams
