Box Score

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State opened up Sun Belt Conference play with an impressive 3-0 sweep over Louisiana Friday, 25-15, 26-24, 25-12, to improve to 11-5 on the season and 1-0 in Sun Belt action. Amari Deardorff surpassed her 1,000^th kill with 13 kills in the match for a career total of 1,006. Meanwhile, freshman Shelby Vas Matt put up 11 in the match to help Deardorff pace Texas State offensively.
 
Deardorff is the 16^th Bobcat to make her way into the team's 1,000-kill club. Makeda Smith is Texas State's all-time record holder with 1,709.
 
The Bobcats dominated the Ragin' Cajuns, finishing with a team hitting percentage of .297 thanks in large part to the top two performers. Deardorff finished at .440 while Vas Matt hit at a rate of .375. Setter Caylin Mahoney gave out 34 assists in the match, good enough for 11.3 assists per set. She also added eight digs and two kills.
 
Sierra Smith led the defensive effort on the floor with 12 digs to lead all players in the match. Ali Hubicsak and Mahoney each chipped in eight to help Texas State tally 46 digs in the match. At the net, Molly Ahrens led the team in blocks with a solo and two assists on the way to five blocks for the team.
 
The closest call for Texas State came in a tight second set, but the Bobcats persevered for the win. After trailing 9-6, Texas State fought back to take an 11-9 lead on five consecutive points. Deardorff hit two kills in the run and Molly Ahrens tallied one. In addition to a Louisiana error, Alexandra Simms punctuated the run with an ace.
 
After a Ragin' Cajun point, the Bobcats put up three more consecutive points, two of which were kills from Deardorff. Texas State eventually built a 16-11 lead, but Louisiana-Lafayette came storming back to tie the match, 19-19.
 
From that point, the Bobcats went on a 3-0 run, again with two more kills from Deardorff, but the Ragin' Cajuns tied it again. Both teams jostled back and forth until it was tied, 24-24. From there, a Louisiana error gave Texas State the set point, and Hubicsak claimed the 2-0 match lead with an ace.
 
Texas State fried the Ragin' Cajuns in the third set, running away with it to close out strong. While only allowing Louisiana a mere .074 team hitting percentage in the final set, the Bobcats put up a .391 with 12 kills.
 
ULM comes to town at 1 p.m. Sunday for Texas State's second SBC match of the season.