ARLINGTON, Texas – Texas State suffered the team's first Sun Belt Conference loss of the season at the hands of in-state rival UT Arlington Wednesday night. The Mavericks swept Texas State, 27-25, 25-21, 25-15 to make it just the second time this season the Bobcats were swept. With the loss, Texas State falls to 11-8 on the season and 6-1 in the SBC after the team's best conference start since 2003. Now only UALR stands as the lone undefeated team in Sun Belt action.
 
The Texas State middle blockers stood out in the match with Lauren Kirch and Amanda Watkins combining for 24 kills with 12 apiece. The 12 kills from Watkins mark a career best as she finished with a .423 hitting percentage.
 
Ali Gonzales gave out 20 assists while Jordan Moore added 11. Libero Sierra Smith led the team in digs with 10, her 10^th consecutive match with double-digit digs. Brenna Lyles finished with nine while Shelby Vas Matt added eight digs.
 
Kirch put down the first kill of the match to give Texas State a 1-0 lead early, but UT Arlington scored five consecutive points to flip the script and start out with a 5-1 lead in the first set. The Mavericks later used a 3-0 run to gain a lead as large as 22-16.
 
But then, down 23-18, the Bobcats used a 6-0 run of their own to go up 24-23 and claim set point. Both teams jostled back and forth from there, but with the opening frame tied, 25-25, UT Arlington put down a kill and benefitted from a Texas State error to win the first set, 27-25 and claim a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
The Mavericks started the second set in much the same way, scoring the first four points for a 4-0 lead. Vas Matt stopped the run with a kill to put the Bobcats on the board. Down 9-4 later in the set, Texas State used a 3-0 run to pull within two points of UTA, 9-7. Unfortunately, that would be as close as Texas State would get in the second set.
 
The Bobcats pulled within two points twice more in the frame at 17-15 and 20-18, but both times UT Arlington answered with points to pull away and took the second set, 25-21, for a 2-0 lead.
 
To start the third set, UTA used a 3-0 run and a 5-0 run to build a 10-3 lead after the Bobcats scored the first point of the frame. That lead proved to be insurmountable as UT Arlington went on to close out the match with a 25-15 victory in the third set for the sweep.
 
Texas State's match against UT Arlington was the first of three matches for the Bobcats this week. They return home for the team's next two matches, a 6 p.m. Friday match against Appalachian State and a 12 p.m. Sunday match against UL Monroe.












 

@TexasStateVball Good Luck to former AP players Kat Turman and Brenna Lyles and the rest of the Bobcats!! — Austin Performance (@apvball) October 8, 2014

@TexasStateVball good luck tonight ladies EAT'M UP!!!! — Texas State Cheer (@TXSTATECHEER) October 8, 2014