Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

DENTON, Texas – Texas State improved to 6-0 with a 3-1 victory over Northwestern State (18-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-211) Friday morning to give the team its first 6-0 start since 1982. Unfortunately, the Bobcats couldn't keep the undefeated streak going against Utah, falling, 3-1 (25-17, 20-25, 25-14, 25-21) to head into the second day of play at the North Texas Invitational at 6-1.

The Bobcats dropped the first set against Northwestern State, 25-18, but bounced back to dominate the next two sets before claiming an ugly fourth set for the win. After combining for just one kill in the first set, Alexandra Simms, Amari Deardorff and Shelby Vas Matt knocked down 32 kills. Simms led all player with 13 total kills while Deardorff and Vas Matt struck for 10 kills apiece.

While Simms led the team in kills, Vas Matt may have been the most impressive. She only had three errors on her way to 10 kills on 19 attacks for a .368 hitting percentage while also leading the team with 13 digs. Although, there was a stretch in the third set in which Simms was unstoppable, hitting for four consecutive kills around a Lady Demon error to bring the Bobcats back from down 17-15 to up 20-17.

Defensively, in addition to Vas Matt's 13 digs, Sierra Smith finished with nine while Simms added eight. Caylin Mahoney tallied six digs and four kills with her 37 assists. At the net, Molly Ahrens led the team to seven blocks with two solo blocks and two assists.

The Bobcats carried momentum from the first match into the team's second match, going up by four points on five separate occassions, but, down 11-7, Utah went on a 4-0 run to tie the match. After Texas State scored once, Utah then went on a big 9-0 run to make it 20-12 and put the first set out of reach.

Texas State came back in the second set, looking like a different team. After allowing a .400 hitting percentage to Utah in the first set, the Bobcats notched 6.5 blocks to drop Utah down to .140. Ashlee Hilbun led the effort at the net in the second set with a solo block and two block assists. She finished the match with the solo and five block assists while Deardorff and Ahrens combined for nine block assists.

The Utes ran away in the third set, claiming it 25-14. The fourth set was much more closely contested. Once the Bobcats pulled within 10-9, the deficit wasn't more than one point until Utah went up 19-17. From there, the Utes scored again to make it 20-17, and the Bobcats couldn't pull within one point against as Utah closed out the match.

Simms again led the team in kills with nine while Deardorff hit for eight. After Vas Matt's strong performance in the tournament opener, freshman Kelsey Weynand had one against Utah. She tallied seven kills with just two errors on 13 attacks for a .385 hitting percentage.

Mahoney gave out 34 assists while Smith led the team in digs with 11. Cori Schrier and Mahoney each had nine digs in the match.

The Bobcats will look to bounce back Saturday against Prairie View A&M at 9 a.m. and host North Texas in the tournament finale at 7:30 p.m.