Box Score

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State fell behind, 2-0, to UALR, one of the top teams in the Sun Belt Conference, but fought back to tie the match with matching 25-17 victories in the third and fourth sets. Unfortunately, the Bobcats dropped the fifth set, 15-13, to fall to 13-9 on the season and 3-4 in the Sun Belt with the loss (25-23, 25-17, 17-25, 17-25, 15-13).
                  
Ashlee Hilbun paced the Bobcats offensively with 17 kills on a strong .324 hitting percentage. Alexandra Simms was second on the team with 13 kills while Molly Ahrens reached double-digit kills for the second time this season with 10. The trio combined for 40 of the team's 58 kills.
 
After the second set break Texas State changed up the attack a bit, going to a 6-2 rotation. While Caylin Mahoney finished with 30 assists and six digs, Jordan Moore took advantage of her opportunity with 20 assists and seven digs.
 
Sierra Smith finished with 25 digs, two aces and two assists. Defensively at the net, the Bobcats put down 19 blocks, two more than UALR. Ahrens was in on 10 blocks while Hilbun had seven block assists with a solo. Amari Deardorff also tallied seven block assists.
 
The Bobcats did hit better than UALR, finishing with a team hitting percentage of .121 compared to UALR's .099. Texas State also struck for 10 more kills than the Trojans and finished with nine more assists and six more digs.
 
Texas State controlled much of the first set and worked to a 22-18 lead. From there, though, the Trojans went on a 7-1 run to close out the set for the early 1-0 lead. The Trojans put down four kills in the run.
 
After dropping the second set, the Bobcats came out of the break with a renewed vigor. Texas State jumped out to a 3-0 lead and quickly extended it to 8-2 and 14-3. The Trojans could not put consecutive points together until a 3-0 run to take it from 16-5 to 16-8. Texas State was too much in control by that point and took the set with ease. The fourth set was much of the same for Texas State as the Bobcats carried momentum.
 
The tide turned in the fifth and final set. Both teams traded points until UALR tied the set, 7-7. With that point, the Trojans went on a 4-0 run for a 10-7 lead. They pushed the score to 12-8 and it proved to be too much to overcome.
 
The Bobcats will look to bounce back at home against Troy at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Texas State will follow with a 1 p.m. match against South Alabama on Sunday.