Championship Central | Box Scores: Match 1 | Match 2
 
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The opening night of the 2019 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship saw the lower seeds earn hard-fought wins as No. 8 Arkansas State rallied for a five-set victory and No. 7 UTA grabbed a four-set win.
 
The championship continues on Friday, Nov. 22 with two quarterfinal matchups as No. 4 Troy takes on the Red Wolves at 5 p.m. CT and No. 3 South Alabama faces the Mavericks at 7:30 p.m. CT. The remaining matches are set for live coverage on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Live statistics are available on SunBeltSports.org.
 
Match 1 - No. 8 Arkansas State 3, No. 5 Louisiana 2
Down two sets facing elimination in the first round, No. 8 Arkansas State needed to play its best to advance. The Red Wolves did just that, reducing its errors in the final three sets in route to an exciting 3-2 triumph (20-25, 21-25, 25-12, 25-20, 15-7) over No. 5 Louisiana.
 
The win over the Ragin' Cajuns marked the seventh year in a row Arkansas State has won at least one match in the Sun Belt Tournament.
 
Junior outside hitter Paulina Sobolewska led a vaunted Arkansas State attack that hit .297 in the match (.421 in the fifth set) with a career-high 18 kills and 11 digs to headline four players in double-digit kills on Thursday. Junior outside hitter Madison Brown matched her career-best with 16 kills on the night with a blistering .344 attack percentage. Sophomore outside hitter Macey Putt (13 kills) and redshirt sophomore middle Timber Terrell (12 kills) made it four Red Wolves with double-digit kills.
 
Match 2 - No. 7 UTA 3, No. 6 Appalachian State 1
No. 7 UTA got past No. 6 Appalachian State 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-21, 25-17) for its second-straight Sun Belt Tournament first-round win.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Brooke Townsend led the UTA attack with 16 kills on the night while hitting .414. Sophomore middle blocker Bre Walp (14 kills), senior middle blocker/outside hitter Madison Hill (12 kills) and senior outside hitter Kylie Jedlicka (11 kills) each finished with double-digit kills.
 
Jedlicka was one of two Mavericks to finish with a double-double, finishing with 11 digs on the night. Sophomore setter Kylee Kapp finished with 15 assists and 12 kills to join Jedlicka with a double-double. Freshman setter Jessica Stancliff paced the match with 31 assists.
 
The Mavericks hit .319 as a team, putting away 61 kills on the night. On defense, UTA finished with 56 digs and five blocks with Walp posting a team-high three blocks.
 
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UPCOMING SCHEDULE
2019 SUN BELT VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Friday, November 22
Match 3 - No. 8 Arkansas State vs. No. 4 Troy (ESPN+), 5 p.m.
Match 4 - No. 7 UTA vs. No. 3 South Alabama (ESPN+), 7:30 p.m.
 
Saturday, November 23
Match 5 - Match 3 Winner at No. 1 Texas State (ESPN+), 2:30 p.m.
Match 6 - Match 4 Winner vs. No. 2 Coastal Carolina (ESPN+), 5 p.m.
 
Sunday, November 24
Match 7 - Match 5 Winner vs. Match 6 Winner (ESPN+), 1 p.m.
 
All Times are Central and Subject to Change