Nov. 16, 2004

San Marcos, Texas - For the second consecutive season, the Texas State volleyball team will enter the Southland Conference Tournament, held in Beaumont, Texas from Nov. 19-21, as the league's regular season champions. Since joining the Southland in 1987, the Bobcats have reached the postseason tournament 14 times and hold a 16-13 (.552) record including two titles won in 1991 and 1998.

Texas State ended the regular season 25-5 overall, and 17-3 in conference play to finish as regular season co-champions with intrastate rival Stephen F. Austin (25-5, 17-3 SLC). It is the first time in volleyball that the league's regular season title has been split and is the fourth title for the Texas State and SFA programs.

With both teams holding identical records, and having split the two regular season meetings, the tie-breaker for the top seed in the tournament came down to head-to-head game records which SFA won by a one-game margin (4-to-3) moving the `Cats into the second seed.

Texas State still controls on of the two first-round byes, and will face the winner of the No. 3 Texas-Arlington/No. 6 Sam Houston State match on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. while the Ladyjacks will play either No. 4 Texas-San Antonio or No. 5 McNeese State at 7 p.m. also on Saturday.

The `Cats enter the tournament ranked second in the league in hitting percentage (.231), third in opponent hitting percentage (.173) and first in assists per game (14.54). Several Bobcats also rank near the top of the league statistically as senior setter Krystal Kolkhorst led the Southland in assists for the second straight season at 12.42 per game while senior middle blocker Kacee Rogers had the highest hitting percentage (.394) and ranked fifth in blocks (1.07 per game). Junior outside hitter Lizzy Nwoke finished fourth in kills (3.96 per game) and senior libero Kristy Jones ranked sixth in digs (3.98 per game).