Bobcat Volleyball in the Lone Star State

The Bobcat volleyball team took a trip down to Texas this past weekend for the Texas Christian University (TCU) tournament. With three games in two days, the Cats had their hands full. The Cats finished the tournament with one win and two losses after fighting hard through two five-set matches.

The tournament started Sept. 7 with the Cats facing off against the Ragin’ Cajuns of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The Cats came out strong and roared to a two set to none advantage heading into intermission. With only one set needed for the win, the Cats looked to close them out. But the Ragin’ Cajuns proved to be a resilient bunch, taking the next two sets 25-23 and 25-21. A fifth set was needed to decide the match. In the end, the Ragin’ Cajuns came out on top with a 15-8 victory in the final set.

Junior outside hitter Evi Wilson led the Cats with 12 kills, while Junior libero Alyssa Rizzo topped the digs board with 23 to pace the Cats. With Rizzo’s 23 digs, she moved past 1,000 in her career, becoming the ninth member of the 1,000 dig club for the Bobcats.

Coming off a hard-fought loss, the Cats were back in action in the afternoon, this time against Southern Methodist University (SMU). The Cats were hungry for a win and started off well with a first set victory. SMU responded, taking the second set to even the score at one apiece at the break. SMU found their stride in the third set, winning 25-21 to come within one set of a victory. With their backs against the wall, the Cats knew they needed a big win and earned it in the form of a 30-28 win in the fourth set to tie the match and send it to an action-packed fifth set. In a back and forth contest, the Cats finally closed out SMU with a thrilling 17-15 win to take the match three sets to two.

Wilson again topped the leaderboards in kills with an impressive 21 in the match while Rizzo lead the cats with an impressive 25 digs.

To finish the tournament, the Cats battled with tournament host, the TCU Horned Frogs on Sept 8. Looking to end the tournament well, the Cats were poised with hunger. TCU proved to be a tough opponent and went on to beat the Cats in three straight sets. Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Scott found her mark on offense with 10 kills to lead the Cats while sophomore libero Lexi Goroski kept the defense stout with nine digs.

The Cats return to action Sept. 14 for the Seattle University Tournament where they play Tennessee Tech and Seattle University before returning home to start conference play on Sept 20.