SAN MARCOS, Texas – In Texas State's second home Sun Belt Conference match of the season, the Bobcats put on a dominating performance to sweep the Jaguars of South Alabama, 25-12, 27-25, 25-15, to improve to 4-0 in conference play and 9-7 overall.
On her 20
th birthday,
Kelsey Weynand led Texas State in kills with 11 on the night. Sophomores
Shelby Vas Matt and
Keeley Davis provided plenty of support with 10 kills each, both finishing the match hitting .400.
Jordan Kohl added eight while
Lauren Kirch and
Amanda Watkins combined for 11 kills and just one error. Watkins went without an error for a .429 hitting percentage while Kohl hit .417.
The Bobcats were so efficient Thursday night that they hit .333 as a team while holding South Alabama to just .120. The Texas State defense forced South Alabama to hit a meager .024 with just six kills in the final set and only .095 in the first.
Defensively, Texas State tallied five blocks with three block assists each from Kirch and Kohl.
Sierra Smith had23 digs in the short three-set match, doing most of the heavy lifting on the back line.
Ali Gonzales added 13 digs and doubled up with a match-high 26 assists.
Jordan Moore added 18 assists.
The Bobcats started the match on fire, hitting .591 with just one error in the first frame. Even more impressive than the team's efficient hitting in the opening set was its serving. Kirch served up three aces while Smith and Moore added two more each for seven aces in the first set. Before the night was over, Texas State tallied nine aces to completely take the Jaguars out of their game plan.
Weynand hit .375 in the opening set with four kills while Kirch and Vas Matt added three each to propel Texas State to a 25-12 victory.
South Alabama tried to bounce back after that and pushed the Bobcats to extra points in the second set, but Texas State proved to be too tough. The Jaguars built a 17-14 lead, but behind two USA errors and a Weynand ace, the Bobcats tied it, 17-17. From there, both teams battled back and forth, but, with the game tied 25-25, Weynand struck a kill and South Alabama followed with an error to give Texas State the 27-25 victory.
The third set looked to be even more impressive for Texas State than the first. The Bobcats stormed out to a 7-2 lead and built that up to a 22-11 advantage. At that point, Texas State used kills from Davis and Kohl with a South Alabama error to finish off the Jaguars.
Texas State takes to the road for the team's next match, a conference showdown at Troy at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Postgame with Coach Karen ChisumPostgame with Kelsey WeynandPostgame with Keeley Davis
