No. 2 Texas State Rides Home Crowd to 3-1 Win Over No. 3 Arkansas State

SAN MARCOS, Texas – No. 2 Texas State rode a boisterous home crowd to a 3-1 (25-18, 30-28, 20-25, 25-22) victory over No. 3 Arkansas State in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Championship. They will advance to the finals to take on No. 1 UALR at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Strahan Coliseum.

The first set opened with high intensity from both teams and after 18 points the teams were tied at 9. Sarah Kemp started a 5-0 Arkansas State rally with a cross-court kill. After the teams traded points to make the score 16-11, Jordan Kohl recorded three straight kills to key an 11-0 Bobcat run which allowed Texas State to take control of the set. Kohl finished the frame with eight kills, while Caylin Mahoney had six assists and 10 digs.

The second set saw the teams split the first 10 points, but Texas State jumped ahead with a 4-1 run as Alexandra Simms collected two kills. Arkansas State responded with their own 4-1 run to tie up the game. Texas State collected six of the next eight points as Kohl recorded another kill. The Red Wolves would not go away securing seven of the next 10 highlighted by Jessica Uke’s spike out of the middle to tie the game at 19. Simms and Drew Jones traded kills to even the score at 20, but Markie Schaedig struck an ace to put the Red Wolves in front. Two points later, Kari Castanon-Hill spiked a ball from the right side to put Arkansas State up two. Mallory Warrington followed with a kill of her own to give the Red Wolves set point. However, Texas State scored four straight as Shelby Vas Matt had two kills to put the Bobcats up 25-24. After trading the next four points, Sarah Kemp recorded two straight kills to put Arkansas State up 28-27, but Simms tied up the game before Kohl recorded her 13th and 14th kills to hand the set to Texas State.

The Red Wolves started the third set on an 8-2 run as the setter Warrington recorded three kills by lofting the ball into soft spots in the Texas State defense. Kelsey Weynard sparked an 8-2 Bobcat reply as she started the run with two kills of her own. With the game, tied at 10, Kemp gave the Red Wolves a lead. A couple points later, Brooke Smith brought the Bobcats within one at 13-12, but Arkansas State rattled off four straight. Texas State was unable to get within four the rest of the set as the Red Wolves won 25-20.

The Bobcats started the fourth set on a 9-3 run as Kohl notched two kills and Jordan Moore and Sierra Smith each picked up an ace. Arkansas State countered with a 7-2 spurt as Uke had two kills on quick sets from Warrington. Later, Drew Jones tied up the contest 13 as she blocked a Jordan Kill attack. Neither team could gain more than a one point lead until Lauren Kirch hit a kill out of the middle to make the score 24-22. The game ended one play later as Kemp’s attack fell just inches past the baseline to give the Bobcats the win.

Caylin Mahoney recorded a double-double with 53 assists and 21 digs to pace the Bobcats. Kohl finished with 20 kills while Simms had 18. Libero Sierra Smith finished with 22 digs and Jordan Moore recorded 19 as the Bobcats finished with 119 digs, just eight short of the Sun Belt record for team digs in a four set match.

Arkansas State’s libero, Markie Schaedig set a Sun Belt Championship tournament record for digs in a four set match as she recorded 36. The NCAA’s digs leader was able to break Danijela Tomic’s (UALR) mark of 32 digs which stood since 1996. Kemp finished with 13 kills while Jones notched 10. Warrington finished with nine kills, 36 assists, and 17 digs. Jessica Uke led the Red Wolves blocking efforts as she finished with three solo blocks and four block assists. The team tallied 16 total blocks and 97 digs.

Texas State advances to the Sun Belt Championship match where they will take on No. 1 UALR. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 live at 1 p.m. (CT).