Box Score

TROY, Ala. – Texas State opened Sun Belt Conference Tournament play with a 3-1 victory over No. 6 Louisiana (25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 25-20) to advance to the semifinals. Ashlee Hilbun led Texas State's effort with a match-high 15 kills on an outstanding .519 hitting percentage, adding a match-high six blocks. The Bobcats will face No. 7 Arkansas State Friday at 4 p.m. after the Red Wolves upset No. 2 UALR.
 
In addition to Hilbun's impressive outing, freshman Shelby Vas Matt stepped up in her first collegiate postseason match with 13 kills and a team-high nine through the first two sets. Alexandra Simms added 11 kills with just two errors for a .321 percentage.
 
Caylin Mahoney was her steady self with 44 assists and 13 digs to complete the double-double and added six kills and three blocks.
 
Sierra Smith tallied a match-high 22 digs to lead Texas State. That gives her 521 digs on the season for the third best digging season all-time at Texas State. Kimberly Brewer is in second with 527 and Kacey Wimpy achieved the most in 2007 with 542.
 
Molly Ahrens and Amari Deardorff got in on the record breaking business as well Thursday. With four block assists in the match, Ahrens has 125 on the season for the fourth highest block assist total in a season for Texas State. She's four away from third and six away from second. Meanwhile, Deardorff put down nine kills to move past Jessica Weynand, older sister of Kelsey Weynand, for 10^th in all-time kills with 1,216 career kills.
 
The Bobcats let Louisiana score the first point of the match, but went on an impressive 6-0 run for the early lead. From there, the Bobcats didn't look back in the first set. Vas Matt put down three kills in the run with one each from Deardorff and Ahrens and an ace from Weynand.
 
Texas State would build an 18-10 lead before Louisiana put together a 4-0 run. A Louisiana error would end the run and the Bobcats continued to pile on in the 25-20 first-set win.
 
The Bobcats used another early run to build a lead on Louisiana in the second set. After falling behind, 5-3, Hilbun scored two kills and Texas State benefitted from three Louisiana errors to go up 8-5 on the 5-0 run. Texas State would eventually extend the lead to 18-11 to help the Bobcats withstand a furious comeback and win the second frame 25-23.
 
Louisiana was able to carry momentum from the team's late surge in the second set into the third set. Texas State had held the top serving team in the conference to just one ace in two sets, but the Ragin' Cajuns served up four aces in the third frame.
 
Both teams teetered back and forth throughout the set until Louisiana was able to pull away late in the set. With a 19-18 lead, the Cajuns scored five consecutive points with three kills and an ace for a 24-18 lead. Vas Matt held off Louisiana for at least one point with a kill but the Cajuns secured their only win of the match on the next play.
 
The back-and-forth continued into the fourth set but Texas State secured some breathing room with a 5-0 run late in the set. Down 18-16, Texas State closed out strong with kills from Deardorff and Hilbun and an ace from Ali Hubicsak.
 
Hilbun, the senior helped Texas State close it out from there with the final two kills for Texas State, stamping an exclamation point on the match with a kill off the face of an opposing player for match point.
 
With No. 2 UALR knocked out of the tournament, the only team seeded above Texas State is top seed Western Kentucky which will face No. 8 Troy later Thursday. The Bobcats will face No. 7 Arkansas State at 4 p.m. Friday. The Red Wolves are the only team other than WKU that the Bobcats haven't beaten yet this season in conference play. Arkansas State won two five-set matches over Texas State with the most recent coming just last Sunday.