All 18 players on Texas State’s roster got on the stat sheet Saturday afternoon.
After picking up two 3-0 wins against Louisiana-Monroe on Friday, the Bobcats followed it up with another 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-12) victory to take the series sweep over the Warhawks inside Strahan Arena.
“With everything we're battling, everything we're going through, we're going to need everyone to play and help,” head coach Sean Huiet said. “And every single kid in today's match contributed in some way. And so, that's a testament to this team, it's a testament to my staff and the training that we've been doing. And I'm just very, very proud of how we — our goal was to keep getting better and every match, we want to get better. And I think you see the scores reflect that today, that we've gotten better over the weekend.”
Texas State (1-0) posted a season-high .380 hitting percentage in Saturday’s match, clubbing ULM (0-1) from every angle. Junior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald led the way with eight kills, followed by senior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott, junior outside hitter Kenedi Rutherford and sophomore middle blocker Tessa Marshall with seven each. Marshall struck at a career-high .778% clip.
After going up 2-0 in the match, Huiet went to the bench to get some of his younger players some in-game reps, including all four of the Bobcats’ freshmen. Middle blocker Megan Woods started the final frame and picked up two kills, a block and a service ace. Ryann Torres dished out two assists and dug out a ball. Daleigh Ellison and Emily Smylie each chipped in digs as well.
“I think our freshmen especially, they really stepped up today,” Scott said. “I thought they would come in, playing nervous or scared but I felt like they handled it well and they did their job and did what they needed to do.”
It was the hosts’ first time tasting what the Sun Belt’s three-match series scheduling will be like for this season. Huiet said that, as much as he enjoys performing in front of a home crowd, he doesn’t enjoy the unknowns that go on between games.
Playing three matches in 28 hours is tough. During road series, all the players return to the same location — the hotel — and the team can monitor their recovery between games. At home, though, the players disperse to their homes during the downtime and the coaches have to trust that they’ll take the proper steps to recover on their own.
“Watching around the league and seeing some other things, (Louisiana) Lafayette and Little Rock go five (sets), it's almost a two-and-a-half, two-hour-45-minute match and then they have to turn around and play again. Then you get up and play again the next day. That's gonna be really, really tough,” Huiet said. “And so, I thought it was good to see it at home and see what we can do. I think on the road, we'll be able to control some of the other factors a little bit … But it really makes (the players) have to focus in. Playing a team three times is really tough and in that quick of a turnaround. So I thought the team did a really good job of staying focused through that, too.”
Junior setter Emily DeWalt paced the Bobcats with 32 assists and 16 digs and tied with Scott and Marshall for a team-high three blocks. Texas State is now on a five-match winning streak. The team is scheduled to play UT Arlington (0-0) next weekend, the lone opponent the maroon and gold will face four times this year. The first match is set for Friday at 6 p.m., followed by the second on Saturday at 1 p.m., both taking place inside Strahan Arena.
Scott wants to see the team keep improving like it did against the Warhawks.
“It feels nice because, as a team, we want to do better just because our coaches want us to do better. So, it's a good feeling to do that,” Scott said. “We really want to have high energy. And one of our goals is to just stay the same team, no matter who's on the other side of the court.”
