Friday, October 7
Bobcats Hand Defending League Champs First Loss
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team toppled Arkansas State 3-1 (25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 25-16) Friday night inside Strahan Coliseum.
The loss snapped the Red Wolves' 23-match win streak against Sun Belt opponents. A-State (12-7, 4-1 SBC) went undefeated in league play last season and had not lost a conference match since 2014. The Bobcats (11-9, 4-1 SBC) used the victory to ascend into a three-way tie for first place in the SBC West Division.
Freshman Megan Porter paced the winning effort with a season-high 18 kills, while senior Kelsey Weynand was right behind with 17. She also added eight digs. Junior Erin Hoppe registered 44 assists and 12 digs, while freshman Micah Dinwiddie had a match-high 22 digs. Fellow freshman Mattie Adams also contributed 10 digs.
The two teams traded jabs in the early going, with neither side able to reach more than a three-point edge until a Kelsey Reis kill gave A-State a 12-8 lead. Texas State fought back and earned an 18-15 advantage after rattling off 7 of 8 points on Dinwiddie's serve. The visitors tied the opening set 21-21, but two kills by Bolden and two attack errors from the Red Wolves handed the first set to the maroon and gold.
The second set was tight all the way through, with neither squad wanting to budge an inch. The score was tied five times, including at 24-24 following a TXST error on set point. Porter blasted a kill from Hoppe on the next point, and the Bobcats pulled ahead 2-0 on an attack error from Reis.
Arkansas State pounced early in the third set and pushed ahead 12-6. They never trailed in the third, but the Bobcats did not go down easy. They battled all the way back to a 23-22 deficit but ran out of steam in the final two points.
The third set triumph proved to be the last gasp for the Red Wolves, as Texas State went on to break a 12-12 tie in the fourth set by winning 13 of the last 17 points. The winning push began on the serve of Adams, who scored nine straight points to put the match out of reach.
Mallory Warrington finished with 50 assists and 16 digs for the visitors. Kenzie Fields added 14 kills and 12 digs, while Carlisa May led A-State with 16 kills. Markie Schaedig (20) and Jessica Heuertz (11) both reached double-digit digs.
The Bobcats outhit Arkansas State .233-.140. The hitting percentage for the Red Wolves was their worst since hitting .126 against UL Lafayette on Nov. 2, 2014. TXST also led in blocks (11-5) and service aces (3-1).
Texas State is now set to close out a four-match homestand against Little Rock. The Bobcats are set to entertain the Trojans at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8 inside Strahan Coliseum.
Coastal Carolina Wins in Straight Sets at Georgia State
ATLANTA, Ga. - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team won its third straight Sun Belt Conference match Friday night as the Chanticleers downed Georgia State in straight sets, 25-20, 25-12, 25-18.
Coastal improves to 13-4, 4-1 with the win to remain atop the standings in the Sun Belt East Division. Georgia State drops to 6-10, 2-3 with the loss, but remains in third place in the East.
Friday's contest was the lone match of the weekend for the Chants as Saturday's match at Georgia Southern was postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Matthew. At this time there is no update as to when that match will be made up.
Heading into the weekend the Chants led the Sun Belt and ranked 33rd in the nation in opponent hitting percentage this season at .162, a mark that will improve after limiting Georgia State to .078. On the attacking side, the Chants recorded a team hitting percentage of .278 as they notched their 10th straight-sets win of the season.
Leah Hardeman once again led the Chants offensively as the junior outside hitter put down 14 kills while hitting .312. Tahleia Bishop joined Hardeman in double figure kills with 11, while Annayka Legros added seven with a .364 hitting percentage.
Sara Boothe dished out 18 assists over the three sets, and Carla Cahill led the match with 16 digs.
Coastal won the blocking battle 8-5, and was led at the net by the five blocks of Legros.
Georgia State got off to the better start in the match, taking an 11-6 lead in the opening set and forcing Coastal into an early timeout. Coming out of the break the Chants won six straight points to overtake the lead, and led by as many as five points during the set's final stretch to go ahead in the match 1-0.
Coastal led the second frame from start to finish, hitting .346 as a team while tallying four blocks. Hardeman and Bishop each had four kills in the set.
Georgia State held only a brief lead early in the final game as Coastal once again hit over .300 on its way to a convincing seven-point set win. Hardeman's seven kills in the set helped put the match away, as did the 11 combined digs from Bishop and Cahill.
Resilient Mavericks earn come from behind victory
ARLINGTON, Texas – A first-set setback didn't deter UT Arlington in a 3-1 win over Little Rock in Sun Belt play on Friday night at College Park Center.
The Mavericks (10-10, 4-1 SBC) would take the next three sets, two coming in commanding fashion, and returned UTA to .500. UTA has won seven of its last nine matches since a season-long four-match losing streak midway through September. The match avenged a Sun Belt Championship defeat in the last meeting in 2015 and edged an 11-10 lead in the all-time series.
It will be a battle of two of the Sun Belt West Division's top teams on Saturday night. Arkansas State (12-7, 4-1) enters CPC after falling for the first time in SBC play against Texas State on Friday.
UTA was nearly able to steal away the opening set after fighting back to take the match to 25 apiece. However, it was Little Rock that was able to win its only set by taking the next two points. From that point, it was all UTA.
A service ace by Cassidy Wheeler was able to get the Mavs out on a positive note and UTA raced out to an early 4-1 lead. UTA continued the outburst to take a commanding lead and took the second 25-11. Set 3 proved to play much closer with the teams exchanging runs. A three-point spurt by Little Rock tied the match at 20-20, but the Mavs scored five of the final eight points to take the third.
Little Rock was forced to call a timeout to try to slow down a UTA attack that held a 9-2 lead in the fourth. Ashlynn Ford knocked down an ace to make it 18-7 and Kaitlyn Granger pounded a kill to build a 12-point lead. The Trojans had a brief rally and shared points with the Mavs, but it was not enough as UTA took down the Trojans.