The Pilots managed to stay within striking distance of Texas State on Saturday morning, but the Bearcats proved to be too much as they pulled away in each game and took the match in straight sets, 3-0.
With the loss the Pilots drop to 4-4 on the year as Texas State improves to 6-5.
The Pilots walked away disappointed in knowing that their lack of consistency and mistakes led to them letting the match slip away.
“We have a lot to work on as a team,” junior Hannah Troutman said. “There were a lot of holes that we found throughout this game and it was eye opening.”
Texas State led the Pilots 4-0 starting out the first set until junior Morgan Robinson stepped in with a kill and an ace to tie up the score. The Pilots kept pushing as Troutman made four kills to match the Bearcats at 8-8. But the Pilots lost their momentum late as they fell behind Texas State and eventually lost the set 23-19.
Defensively, the Pilots lagged, not blocking as consistently as they would have liked.
“We always need to focus on blocking. I mean, we aren't the tallest team in the Conference or preseason but we need to work on getting our feet even and getting our hands square over the net,” Troutman said.
The Pilots started out strong in the second set, but Texas State pushed back, tying the score at 5-5. The two teams continued long rallies, staying relatively even until Texas State took over and eventually won the set 27-17.
The third set was the strongest for the Pilots, but they still didn’t have enough to get past Texas State. The teams battled it out once again but the Bearcats pulled away just in time and took the final set and the match 25-22.
The Pilots play Utah Saturday night at 6pm. After falling to the Bearcats Saturday morning, the Pilots will need to regroup for the last game of the tournament.
“We did not show up ready to play today so being mentally prepared this afternoon will be key,” head coach Brent Crouch said. “Texas State is a good team but I don't think we competed very well.”
Any loss is a tough loss, but for the players, the early season games are about getting better as a unit.
“We definitely want to try to get to how successful we were last season but our main focus is to build ourselves now,” Robinson said.
