Texas State (16-11, 11-5 SBC) beat the James Madison Dukes ( 20-8, 13-3 SBC) Friday night for their second consecutive five-set win and eight straight overall to finish out the regular season on a high note Friday night in Harrisonburg, Va.
The first set was led by the Dukes, who went on a 5-2 run that gave them an 18-11 lead. From there, the Dukes coasted through to the end, taking the set 25-18. Redshirt junior Samantha Wunsch had six kills on 13 swings in the first set alone.
The second set was played out similarly to the first, except this time in favor of the Bobcats. The Bobcats went on a 4-1 run to give themselves a 19-15 lead. From then on, it was back and forth, but Texas State came out with a 25-19 after the Dukes’ four service errors proved costly.
The third set was the Bobcats’ best of the night. Texas State swung .500 with an 18-2-32 attack line, with six kills from Wunsch and senior Maggie Walsh. Wunsch went on a service run that changed the game for Texas State, taking the score from 5-5 to 13-5.
The Bobcats limited the Dukes to just nine kills with four attack errors in the third set. Senior Alyssa Clark took the Bobcats on another five-point service run to end the set 25-13, giving the Dukes one of their worst set scores this season.
James Madison came back in the fourth set, recording nine service aces. The Bobcats swung .269 with 10 kills and out-blocked the Dukes 5-0, but fell short in the set 25-22.
Texas State started strong in the fifth set, going on a 6-0 run from Walsh’s serves. The Bobcats had back-to-back blocks to start the set, along with two service aces from Walsh, and then forced the Dukes into two attack errors, giving Texas State the lead.
The match ended with a seven-point Texas State lead, with Walsh sealing the deal thanks to an ace on match point to give the Bobcats the 15-8 win to take the match 3-2.
Texas State will now travel to Foley, Alabama, to play in the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Round one is set for 11 a.m. on Nov. 21 at Foley Sports Tourism Complex against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. The match will be streaming on ESPN+.
