SAN MARCOS, Texas – Head Coach
Karen Chisum and the Texas State Bobcats swept Troy Saturday night, 25-17, 25-17, 25-19, to earn Chisum her 800
th career victory. The Bobcats hit an outstanding .364 hitting percentage in a dominating performance against Troy to improve to 19-11 on the season and 14-4 in Sun Belt Conference play. Texas State also honored its four seniors:
Caylin Mahoney,
Alexandra Simms,
Ali Gonzales and
Brittney Garcia.
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With the victory, Chisum became the 22
nd collegiate volleyball coach to ever reach the mark and just the 13
th coach to do it in NCAA Division I history. Only nine other coaches across all three NCAA divisions have ever won 800 matches with one school as Chisum now has.
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The Bobcats were able to win convincingly to get Chisum to 800 on senior night. Senior setters Mahoney and Gonzales combined for 30 assists and spread the ball around evenly to all the Texas State hitters.
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Jordan Kohl finished with a team-high 10 kills and a .421 hitting percentage while
Brooke Smith and
Lauren Kirch each tallied eight kills. Mahoney added seven errorless kills on nine attempts for a .778 hitting percentage. Smith hit .583 and Kirch finished at .467. The Bobcats, as a team, did not hit less than .308 in any set and peaked at .394 in the second set.
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Texas State was equally impressive defensively at the net. The Bobcats finished with 11 blocks with six coming from Smith. Kirch and Mahoney added four each to help Texas State outblock Troy, 11-2.
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In addition to the blocks, the Bobcats finished with 42 digs, nine more than Troy.
Sierra Smith led the way with nine while
Kelsey Weynand added seven. Gonzales and
Brenna Lyles added six apiece.
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The Bobcat defense held Troy to a .000 hitting percentage in the opening frame and didn't let the Trojans hit more than .156 in any one of the sets. Troy would finish the match with 24 errors to just 10 for Texas State and hit just .083.
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The match was never in doubt as the Bobcats led throughout most of it. Troy's most impressive lead was 9-7 in the third set, but the Bobcats used kills from Kohl and
Brooke Smith along with a Troy error to take a 10-9 lead. With a 20-19 lead in the third set, Texas State closed out the match with five consecutive points.
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Texas State heads to the road next to face Appalachian State at 6 p.m. CST Thursday and Georgia Southern at 12 p.m. CST Saturday. After that, the Bobcats will return home to host the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Championship in San Marcos Nov. 27-29.
Head Coach Karen Chisum on the milestone
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