SAN MARCOS, Texas – In Texas State's second season in the Sun Belt Conference, the Bobcats will play for a second consecutive SBC Championship. The conference's Freshman of the Year Jordan Kohl led the Bobcats to a 3-1 victory (25-18, 30-28, 20-25, 25-22) over No. 3 Arkansas State in the most hotly contested match of the SBC Championship Tournament so far. Texas State will face the top team in the conference, UALR, at 1 p.m. Saturday with the SBC Championship on the line.
  With the crowd that Arkansas State traveled and the always faithful Bobcat fans, Strahan Coliseum had plenty of noise for the match, and the two teams certainly did not disappoint. It didn't take long before the teams went to extra points, as Texas State had to win the second set, 30-28.
 
Kohl put down a career-high 20 kills in the match and started strong with eight kills in the opening frame. Alexandra Simms came just four kills shy of her career high, finishing with 18 while Shelby Vas Matt added 10 more. Lauren Kirch finished with nine kills on a Texas State best .308 hitting percentage.
 
Caylin Mahoney looked like her old self, giving out 53 assists for a 13.25 assists per set average. She added 21 digs to tie her with Jordan Moore for second on the team behind libero Sierra Smith's 22. Vas Matt and Simms combined for 26 more digs while Brenna Lyles added 19. Mahoney led Texas State's efforts at the net with three block assists.
 
The Bobcats finished with 119 digs, 22 more than Arkansas State, and 69 kills, 16 more than the Red Wolves. And, as has been the case all season, Texas State outserved its opponent. Smith finished with two aces while Moore added one to make it three Bobcat aces to just one for ASU.
 
Texas State played its best when its best was needed. With a 2-1 lead, the Bobcats came out to hit a .326 as a team in the fourth set to clinch the match, putting down 18 kills with just four errors on 43 attempts.
 
Both teams started the match with plenty of energy and battled back and forth to an 8-8 tie. Arkansas State eventually built a 16-11 lead, until Kohl scored with a kill to give Texas State the serve. From there, behind Smith's service, the Bobcats went on a 11-0 run to pass up the Red Wolves and build a 22-16 lead. Texas State closed out the first set with kills from Kohl and Simms around an ASU error.
 
In addition to Kohl's eight first-set kills, Mahoney finished the opening frame with 10 digs while Lyles added nine.
 
The Red Wolves tried to bounce back in the second set, but the Bobcats responded to every blow Arkansas State threw. The Red Wolves earned set point at 24-21, but Texas State scored four consecutive points thanks to kills from Vas Matt and Kirch to gain a 25-24 lead. Both teams continued to jockey for position from there until Texas State scored three consecutive points to close out the set.
 
With Arkansas State ahead, 28-27, Simms put down a kill to tie the second set. Kohl took care of the rest with back-to-back kills off of sets from Mahoney to clinch a 2-0 lead before intermission.
 
After Kohl went for eight kills in the first, Simms answered with eight in the second set in addition to Kohl's six. Mahoney gave out 20 assists in the second set alone.
 
The Bobcats fell in the third set, 25-20, but responded with a 9-3 start to the fourth set. Arkansas State would not go down easily, and battled back to tie the match at 13-13. Both teams stayed neck and neck to a 22-22 tie. Again, when the Bobcats needed to be at their best, they were. Texas State forced two errors from ASU around a kill from Kirch to clinch the match and Texas State's spot in the championship round.
 
If Texas State can beat UALR (28-4, 20-0 SBC) in Saturday's championship match, it will secure Texas State's 10^th trip to the NCAA Tournament and 10^th conference tournament championship. The match will start at 1 p.m. Saturday and can be viewed on ESPN3.




Head Coach Karen Chisum reacts to the semifinal victory




Freshman Jordan Kohl reacts to her career match and the win over ASU





 

.@TexasStateVball defeats Arkansas State in four sets (25-18, 30-28, 20-25, 25-22). #TXST — Star Sports (@UStar_Sports) November 29, 2014	Great match ladies! Go get that championship tomorrow! @TexasStateVball #EatEmUp — Nick Gravois (@Le_gravois) November 29, 2014
Congratulations to the @TexasStateVball for advancing to the Sunbelt Championships for the 2nd year! Eat em up! ?? — Justin Torres (@Just_in3000) November 29, 2014	@TexasStateVball with a big second round win over Ark St!!!! Way to fight ladies. @SunBelt championship tomorrow at 1! #TXST #FunBelt — The Loud Crowd (@TXSTLoudCrowd) November 29, 2014