Volleyball: Quick Starts and a Fast Finish Lifts Texas State Past Louisiana in Series Finale

Bobcats open first two sets with four straight points, end the match with four unanswered tallies

LAFAYETTE – Texas State benefited from a productive and efficient effort on offense Saturday afternoon at Earl K. Long Gym and it led to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 26-24) win over 15th-ranked Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Volleyball in the final match of a three-match Sun Belt series.
 
The visiting Bobcats posted at least 15 kills and hit .270 or higher in all three frames to secure the win which completed a three-match sweep of the weekend series.
 
The Ragin’ Cajuns (11-3, 5-3 Sun Belt) found their rhythm in the third set rising to 15 kills on a .310 hitting percentage. The squad narrowly missed an opportunity to return the favor of a reverse sweep that occurred to them on Friday night as Texas State (11-1, 6-0 Sun Belt) claimed the final four points of the contest to prevent the hosts from extending play.
 
Identical 4-0 starts to the first and second sets resulted in no ties or lead changes as the Bobcats built a 2-0 match lead.
 
Kelsey Bennett and Desiree Johnson led the charge for the Ragin’ Cajuns during a second-set attempt at forging a match tie. A kill from Bennett later followed by a block solo and kill from Johnson trimmed the Bobcats lead to 15-12. A subsequent 4-1 run allowed Texas State to stretch the lead back out to a safe margin at 19-13.
 
After back-and-forth play from the start of the third set, it was a pair aces from Taylor Gates during a 4-0 run which returned the lead to the Ragin’ Cajuns at 16-13. The lead remained on the home team’s side until a Lauren Teske ace forced extra points, then Tyeranee Scott supplied back-to-back kills for the Bobcats to reach match point.
 
LEADING THE RAGIN’ CAJUNS
Hali Wisnoskie led a group of five Ragin’ Cajuns who surpassed five kills in the contest as she scored a team-best nine kills. Kara Barnes landed eight kills off of 17 error-free swings, Bennett generated seven kills and Johnson supplied six kills.
 
Gates and Wisnoskie each served up two aces giving Louisiana a 5-4 advantage over the Bobcats.
 
Neither team relied upon blocking at the net, though it was Barnes and Johnson each having a hand in two blocks. With two block solos, Johnson directly impacted half of the Ragin’ Cajuns match total.
 
Digs were spread out evenly amongst Louisiana’s players who took the court as nine different individuals tallied multiple digs. Libero Hannah Ramirez rounded up 13 digs to extend her streak of consecutive matches with double figures to 26 straight dating back to last Oct. 11.
 
Avery Breaux passed out 30 assists and was one dig shy of posting a double-double for the second straight outing.
 
UP NEXT
No. 15 Louisiana continues its homestand at Earl K. Long Gym Friday-Saturday, Oct. 23-24 hosting Arkansas State in a three-match Sun Belt series. Each contest with the Red Wolves will air on ESPN�.
 
The two teams will play an 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. doubleheader on Oct. 23, then wrap up the series with a 1 p.m. meeting on Oct. 24.
 
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