Eagles Lose Both in Texas

Jordan Toney

The Eagles made a road trip to Texas this weekend where they’d go up against two more conference opponents, UT Arlington and Texas State. It would prove to be a tough matchup considering both of these teams are in the top 3 in the conference, with Texas State being number two.

UT Arlington (1-3 L):

While Ga. Southern has more of a balanced attack, with kills being split between Kym Coley, Cathrine Murray and Jamie DeRatt, UT Arlington had more of a solo strategy with Qiana Canete having 18 kills while the rest of her team was held to single digits. This approach did work though it didn’t work easily as UT Arlington would think as the first two sets were decided by less four points. What really hurt the Eagles in this match against UT Arlington was the fact that players were truly having trouble getting a good hitting percentage. Cathrine Murray only had a hitting percentage of 2.1, while Jamie DeRatt had 7.1. One truly can’t expect the Eagles to be winning matches with this kind of hitting percentage. The only true beacon of light was Kym Coley who had the highest hitting percentage of anyone in the entire match with 39.4. Kat Minnerly, as usual, led the team in assists with 44, while Avery Stephens led in digs with 21.

Texas State (0-3 L):

The match the Eagles had against Texas State was an ugly affair as Texas State’s dual player attack offense with Alexandra Simms and Jordan Kohl struck the eagles hard. In fact, the Eagles didn’t manage to take the lead a single time in the last two sets against the Bobcats. Jamie DeRatt was the only player for the Eagles that managed to have double digit kills, but she did manage to increase her hitting percentage having a 16.7 this match. Another reason Texas State did so well is that they manage to shut down Kym Coley, limiting her to only 4 kills. Texas State also shut down the entire team’s hitting percentage, with the Eagles not getting higher than 10 in the last two sets. However, it is interesting to note that while the Eagles did have their worst hitting percentages in the last two sets, it’s actually the only times they managed to score 20 points against the Bobcats.

The Eagles start another losing streak, and these two losses cement the fact that the Eagles will be having a losing season for the first time in a while. The Eagles next match will be at Hanner Halloween night against South Alabama.