TROY, Ala. – Texas State fought back from down 2-1 against Troy Saturday night to earn an emotional win at the end, 3-2 (25-19, 18-25, 19-25, 25-20, 15-12), and improve to 5-0 in the Sun Belt Conference and 10-7 overall.
 
Freshman Jordan Kohl led all players in the match with 18 kills, exploding with six kills in the fourth set to propel Texas State to a win in the frame to stay alive in the match. In addition to her kills, she was a defensive force, tallying six blocks.
 
In fact, Texas State had the team's best blocking match yet, finishing with 13 blocks led by Amanda Watkins with seven block assists. Lauren Kirch added five and Shelby Vas Matt and Keeley Davis tallied three each.
 
Kirch and Davis were also big for the Bobcats on the offensive side. Davis struck for 12 kills while Kirch put down 10. Kirch, the freshman, came up with timely kills and blocks throughout the match.
 
Both Bobcat setters finished with double-doubles. Ali Gonzales gave out 29 assists with 10 digs while Jordan Moore had 26 assists and 16 digs. Sierra Smith led the team with 25 digs on the night while Kelsey Weynand added 19.
 
Both teams battled back and forth throughout the beginning of the first set until Texas State led 11-10. Kills from Watkins and Kohl coupled with errors from Troy put the Bobcats up 15-10. After a Trojan point, Texas State was awarded a point due to a red card to Troy to make it 16-11 in favor of the Bobcats. From that point, Texas State pushed forward, building a 22-15 lead. Two kills from Kohl and a Troy error later the Bobcats had a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-19 win in the opening frame.
 
Watkins was a factor for Texas State in the first set. She led all players early with five first-set kills on a .667 hitting percentage and added three block assists. After her, Kirch and Kohl each had four kills to help the Bobcats finish the first set hitting .342 to just .077 for Troy.
 
Troy was able to bounce back in the second set though, and the big reasons why were blocks and hitting percentage. After hitting .342 in the opening frame, Texas State finished the second set with a .000 percentage with 10 kills and 10 errors on 40 attempts. Troy, meanwhile, improved from .077 in the first set to .250 in the second with just three errors.
 
The Bobcats outblocked Troy in the first set, 4-3, but Troy put down five blocks in the second frame to just one for Texas State. Troy's Blair Winston and Marija Zelenovic only hit a combined four kills in the first set, but the duo put down eight in the second to push Troy to the 25-18 win.
 
Troy owned the third set to go up 2-1 in the match with a 25-19 win. The Trojans hit .222 with 15 kills and five errors to best the Bobcats, who finished with 13 kills and eight errors (.093). Texas State was able to win the blocking battle in the third set though, 4-2.
 
Texas State looked much better in the fourth frame. At one point, Kohl put the Bobcats on a 4-0 run all by herself with four consecutive kills from the freshman. She carried the Bobcats through the fourth frame, finishing with six kills in the set without an error. The Bobcats also used two aces, both from Weynand, and three blocks to stay alive to see the fifth set.
 
The Bobcats started strong in the fifth and final frame, jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead and quickly built that to an 8-3 lead at the switch. The Trojans, however, answered with three consecutive points to force a timeout from Texas State with an 8-6 lead. Troy used an ace off the net and a Bobcat error to get back into it.
 
Troy scored first out of the timeout, but Kohl answered with a kill. It didn't serve to slow up the Trojans though, as they eventually took a 10-9 lead on a block. After that, both teams continued to go back and forth until Texas State went on a 4-0 run. Kirch struck two kills while Kohl put down one. Kirch and Vas Matt also teamed up for a block to put Texas State up 15-11. The Trojans were able to stall the inevitable for one point, but Vas Matt went shallow across the court for the final kill to clinch it for the Bobcats.
 
The Texas State defense only allowed two kills to Troy in the final frame. The Trojans coupled that with two errors to hit .000 in the set. Meanwhile, Texas State scored 13 of their 15 points in the fifth set on kills.
 
Texas State will get a week off before the team's next match. The Bobcats will host UL Lafayette at 1 p.m. Saturday at Strahan Coliseum.




Coach Karen Chisum on the emotional five-set victory






 

.@TexasStateVball remains undefeated in conference play: https://t.co/yKMqnwIIHg #TXST — Star Sports (@UStar_Sports) September 28, 2014	S/O to my girls on the @TexasStateVball team for another conference win. #undefeated #defendingchamps #sunbelt #TXST — Casey Meyer (@cmeyer22) September 28, 2014
Great win @TexasStateVball !!! Fight on! #TXST #EatEmUpCats — Fastbreak Club (@fastbreak_club) September 28, 2014	@TexasStateVball go Bobcats! — Victoria Ogden (@VictoriaOgden16) September 28, 2014