SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State rebounded from a road loss on Thursday with an impressive sweep of Georgia Southern (25-18, 25-20, 25-21) Saturday night. The match was never in doubt as Alexandra Simms and Jordan Kohl led the Bobcats past the Eagles to improve to 15-10 on the season and 10-3 in Sun Belt Conference action.
 
Simms and Kohl each finished with 10 kills on the night, but the Bobcats were able to get a number of players involved. Lauren Kirch finished with eight kills while Keeley Davis added seven. Amanda Watkins put down five kills while Brooke Smith and Kelsey Weynand combined for five more.
 
The Bobcats were also very effective at the net defensively with nine blocks on the night. Kirch was in on six of them to lead Texas State while Smith finished with four blocks. Watkins added three more.
 
Brenna Lyles, playing libero Saturday night, led all players in digs with 14. Shelby Vas Matt offered her support with 12 digs while Davis added nine. With the blocking and strong work on the back line from Texas State, the Bobcats only allowed Georgia Southern to hit .083 for the match.
 
Lyles, in addition to her defensive work, led Texas State in service with two aces. Simms and Gonzales each added one more. The Bobcats were strong in service all night.
 
At one point in the first set, Gonzales served seven consecutive points for Texas State, including an ace. The Bobcats were trailing, 10-8, until Jordan Moore, who finished with 24 assists, found Davis for a kill. From there, Gonzales went on her serving streak and the Bobcats forced consecutive errors from Georgia Southern followed by a block from Kirch and Davis.
 
Then Gonzales served her ace and the Eagles fell victim to another block, this one from Smith and Kirch, and another error. Kirch scored the last point in the run with a kill set up by Gonzales, who added 14 assists.
 
With a 16-10 lead, the Bobcats stayed in control throughout the rest of the set for an easy 25-18 opening frame victory. Texas State used a large run to gain control in the second set as well. With the set tied, 6-6, the Bobcats scored on with a block from Kohl and Watkins. A kill from Kirch and an ace from Lyles came next. After that, Kohl and Davis each put down kills to put the Bobcats up 11-6 in the set.
 
Georgia Southern tied the frame at 11-11, but Texas State rifled off three points to push the lead to 14-11 and eventually 21-16 on a kill from Watkins. Another 3-0 run from Texas State with three consecutive kills from Kohl made it set point, 24-17, before Georgia Southern was able to hold off Texas State for three points. Eventually, Kirch struck a kill to win the second set, 25-20.
 
Texas State was in complete control of the third set from the beginning. The Bobcats built a 20-11 lead, but Georgia Southern was able to fight back to make it respectable. When the Eagles pulled within two, 21-19, Texas State put down two kills from Kelsey Weynand and another Lyles ace to push the lead to 24-19 and eventually claimed the final set and the sweep with a 25-21 victory.
 
The Bobcats will next take to the road to face UL Lafayette at 7 p.m. Friday and South Alabama at 12 p.m. Sunday. Texas State will return home for a three-match home stand before taking to the road again to face Appalachian State and Georgia Southern to end the regular season.



Head Coach Karen Chisum on the sweep




Lauren Kirch on her six-block performance





 

.@TexasStateVball defeats Georgia Southern in three sets (25-18, 25-20, 25-21). #TXST — Star Sports (@UStar_Sports) October 26, 2014

Good luck tonight @TexasStateVball #TXST #EatEmUpCats — Fastbreak Club (@fastbreak_club) October 25, 2014