SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State stunned Little Rock with a 3-1 victory Thursday night, 25-13, 18-25, 25-10, 25-22. Before the historic win for Texas State, Little Rock held the nation's longest winning streak against conference opponents at 26 matches. That's where the streak would end after the Bobcats were finished. For the first time in San Marcos, Texas State pulled off the win, beating the defending Sun Belt Conference Champion Little Rock Trojans to improve to 9-8 on the season and 4-1 in SBC action.
The Bobcats started strong behind three consecutive service aces from setter
Erin Hoppe. That gave her a fast start as she went on to tally seven aces in the match, just two short of the Texas State record. Little Rock's whole team could not serve up more aces than Hoppe as the Texas State setter outserved the Trojans, 7-4.
Morgan Lewis and
Ali Hubicsak added an ace each to make the full advantage, 9-4, for Texas State.
After the early 3-0 lead,
Haley Henderson put down a kill before Little Rock could answer for a 4-0 start to the match. The Bobcats would build a lead to 8-2 and eventually 19-9 in the opening set. The Trojans made a run late in the first frame, but the Bobcats were able to close out the set on a 5-0 run behind the service of
Shelby Vas Matt. She started the run with a kill and Hoppe and Lewis followed with a block, one of 12 Texas State blocks on the night. After two errors from Little Rock, Vas Matt put down the final kill to put Texas State up, 1-0.
Both Vas Matt and
Jordan Kohl had five kills apiece in the first set with 13 assists and four aces from Hoppe.
Sierra Smith added six digs to start her 26-dig night, ending the match with an average of 6.5 digs per set.
Vas Matt finished with a team-high 13 kills on a respectable .333 hitting percentage while Kohl and Henderson combined for 23 kills. Freshman
Madison Daigle added nine kills without an error for a .500 hitting percentage with a team-high seven blocks. Lewis added five more as Texas State outblocked Little Rock, 12-11. Hoppe went on to give out 44 assists for an 11.0 assists per set average while adding eight digs. Vas Matt had nine.
As a team, the Bobcats hit .542 in the opening set with 15 kills and just two errors on 24 attempts. The Bobcat defense held Little Rock to .115 in the first frame and stymied the Trojan offense to finish with just a .071 hitting percentage.
Little Rock, however, hit the team's best percentage in the second set, finishing the frame with a .304 percentage, 10 kills and just three errors on 23 attempts. The Trojans proved why they are widely considered the perennially best team in the conference with an impressive run to clinch the second set. Little Rock finished the frame on a 12-1 run.
Undeterred, the Bobcats started the third set the same way they did the first. Texas State stormed out to an 11-1 lead in the third. It started with another ace from Hoppe. Little Rock answered with a kill, but would not score another point until the Trojans trailed by 10. Texas State had three blocks and forced three more errors along with a service error from Little Rock in the run. Vas Matt, and Kohl both had kills for Texas State before Little Rock could answer.
The Trojans started to heat up as they pushed their score up to six, but then the Bobcats went on another run, scoring eight consecutive points with two blocks and two kills each from Henderson and Lewis en route to a 21-6 lead. By then, it was out of reach, and the Bobcats would claim a 2-1 lead. Smith had eight digs in the frame.
After three lopsided sets, the fourth set would prove to be the most competitive with Little Rock fighting to stay alive and the Bobcats trying to end it. Both teams jostled back and forth to an 18-18 tie. The Bobcats used a kill from Daigle and another ace from Hoppe to go up, 20-18. Little Rock would strike a kill, but a kill from
Kelsey Weynand gave Texas State a two-point lead, 21-19.
A Little Rock error followed by a block from the Trojans made it 22-20, and Little Rock pulled within one after that on another Texas State error. The Bobcats, however, answered with a 3-1 run behind a block from Daigle and Vas Matt and two more kills from Vas Matt to clinch the big win, 3-1.
Hoppe had 15 assists in the final set while Smith put up eight digs in the frame. Vas Matt and Daigle combined for nine kills while Lewis and Henderson added a combined five more.
The Bobcats will look to carry the momentum of the victory into a 12 p.m. Saturday match against Georgia Southern. Texas State will also be recognizing the team's 2005 Southland Conference Championship team on Saturday.
Chisum Postgame ReactionHubicsak Postgame Reaction
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