Box Score

JONESBORO, Ark. – Texas State had the opportunity to move into second place in the Sun Belt Conference when UALR lost to Louisiana Sunday, but Arkansas State stymied the Bobcats on ASU's senior day, 3-2 (20-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11). The Red Wolves had five players with double-digit kills and a sixth with nine to battle against a near career day for Amari Deardorff who finished with a match high 21 kills, just one short of her personal record.
 
The loss will keep Texas State the third seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament which will most likely lead to a first round matchup against likely sixth seed Louisiana, a team Texas State has swept twice this season. Continue to check www.txstatebobcats.com throughout the week for updates and information on the SBC Volleyball Tournament.
 
No other Bobcat reached double-digit kills outside of Deardorff. Kelsey Weynand had nine while Ashlee Hilbun had eight errorless kills for a .400 hitting percentage. Shelby Vas Matt and Molly Ahrens added seven kills each.
 
Caylin Mahoney played a strong match with 49 assists and 19 digs to lead the team in both categories. She added five kills and a block. Sierra Smith tallied 17 digs while Weynand and Vas Matt combined for 23 digs.
 
The Bobcats outblocked Arkansas State, 8-5, led by four block assists each from Hilbun, Ahrens and Deardorff. Texas State's defense forced 29 ASU errors, seven more than Texas State committed, but the Red Wolves also struck for eight more kills than the Bobcats.
 
Arkansas State came out aggressive in the first set, building a 10-6 lead to force an early timeout from Texas State. Eventually, the Bobcats flipped the match. Trailing 11-6, Texas State went on an impressive 7-1 run with kills from Vas Matt, Alexandra Simms, Mahoney and an ace from Vas Matt to go up 13-12.
 
Both teams continued to trade points from there, leading to a 17-17 tie until consecutive points from Texas State gave the Bobcats a 19-17 lead. One of those points came off a kill from Ahrens made possible by a hustle play from Simms. She went far out of bounds to save the ball that eventually led to the Bobcat point.
 
The Red Wolves came back to tie it, 19-19, but the Bobcats closed out strong. The Texas State defense only allowed one more point from ASU and forced three errors to win the set, 25-20, for the early 1-0 lead.
 
Texas State used a balanced attack in the opening set with three players notching three kills each to help the Bobcats finish the set hitting .294. Arkansas State had four players hit three kills while Kelsey Sullivan tallied five in the opening frame for four more kills than Texas State, 17-13. However, seven errors, including three for the final TXST points of the set, doomed the Red Wolves in the first.
 
Arkansas State started the second set similar to the first, building a quick lead 7-4 followed by a 10-7 lead. But with the Red Wolves up 10-8, the Bobcats again stormed back, this time on a 6-1 run, to claim a 14-11 lead.
 
The Bobcats would extend the lead to 18-14 later in the second set, but Arkansas State would not go down easy on senior day. The Red Wolves came to tie the set, 20-20, and go ahead 22-20 to force two timeouts from the Bobcats. Arkansas State made it set point, 24-21, but Ahrens held off the Red Wolves with a kill to make it 24-22. A Sadie Clark kill after that claimed the set for ASU to tie the match, 1-1.
 
Both teams saw their hitting percentages drop as Texas State went from three errors in the first to seven in the second while Arkansas State hit eight errors in the second. Deardorff paced the Bobcats with four kills in the set while Hilbun added three.
 
For Arkansas State it was Clark who went for four kills while Kendal Davis and Kelsey Reis added three each. After just two sets, the Red Wolves had a 32-26 advantage in kills but also had five more errors than the Bobcats, 15-10.
 
Texas State continued to start sets sluggish in the third set as Arkansas State built up a 12-7 lead, going on a 4-0 run after leading 8-7. After a Texas State timeout, the Bobcats stormed back with a 6-1 run to tie the third set at 13-13.
 
Both teams jostled back and forth until Texas State started to pull away after an 18-18 tie. Three consecutive TXST points gave the Bobcats a 21-18 lead. That lead eventually grew to a 23-19 lead to force a timeout from the Red Wolves. Arkansas State made it close, but the Bobcats closed out the set, 25-22, for the 2-1 lead.
 
Deardorff hit for seven kills in the set to give her a match high 14 kills to that point in the match. Largely off her work the Bobcats hit 16 kills and just two errors for a .359 percentage in the third frame.
 
Neither team led by more than three points throughout the fourth set. After a very back-and-forth set, Arkansas State was able to get the points it needed to survive and force a fifth set with a 25-22 fourth-set victory.
 
The fifth set stuck with the theme of the match: back-and-forth. Both teams traded blows until the Red Wolves went up 13-10 late in the set. Deardorff hit her 21^st kill to make it 13-11, but ASU put down a kill and followed it with an ace for the victory.
 
Next up on the Texas State schedule is the Sun Belt Conference Tournament to be held in Troy, Ala., Nov 21-23. Continue to check www.txstatebobcats.com for updates and tournament coverage throughout the week.