Volleyball | 10/29/2015 4:21:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Bobcats have finally returned home to host two of the team's final three home matches this weekend. Texas State will welcome UL Monroe on Friday night for Texas State's annual Pink Out night. There will be an auction and pink aplenty as Texas State encourages breast cancer awareness and the search for a cure. The Bobcats will follow that with a match against Troy on Halloween Saturday. Both matches are at 6:30 p.m.
 
Match 1 Info: Texas State (13-11, 8-3 SBC) vs. UL Monroe (12-14, 2-9 SBC)
Site: Strahan Coliseum – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Friday, October 30 – 6:30 p.m.
 
Match 2 Info: Texas State (13-11, 8-3 SBC) vs. Troy (13-13, 6-6 SBC)
Site: Strahan Coliseum – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Saturday, October 31 – 6:30 p.m.
 
The Series
Vs. UL Monroe: 36-2
Last Meeting: W, 3-0 (10/12/14)
 
Texas State and UL Monroe have met 38 times in history with the Bobcats winning nearly every match to hold a 36-2 advantage in the all-time series. The Bobcats have won the last five matches, and six matches previous to ULM's most recent victory in 2005. In the last five matches, Texas State has only dropped one set and that came on the road in a 3-1 win on Sept. 21, 2014.
 
In the last meeting, the Bobcats swept the Warhawks, 25-19, 25-23, 25-18. At Strahan Coliseum, Shelby Vas Matt led the Bobcats past ULM with 14 kills and a .481 hitting percentage while Kelsey Weynand added 10 more kills. Lauren Kirch, a freshman at the time, chipped in eight kills in the match. Vas Matt added two service aces while four Bobcats finished with three blocks or more.
 
Vs. Troy: 6-0
Last Meeting: W, 3-1 (10/22/15)
 
Texas State and Troy have not played many times in their histories, but the Bobcats have dominated the short-lived series. Texas State has won all six meetings between the two teams, including a 3-1 victory just last week.
 
After dropping the first set, the Bobcats went on to dominate Troy. Texas State tallied 20 more kills and 16 less errors on just one more attempt, 120-119. The Bobcats piled on with 18 more assists, the bulk of which came from Erin Hoppe who finished with 40, six more than Troy's team. She found Jordan Kohl, Kelsey Weynand, Shelby Vas Matt and others consistently for kills. That trio finished with 13, 12 and 11 kills respectively with hitting percentages of .370, .391 and .320.
 
The middle blockers got in on the action with Morgan Lewis putting down nine kills on a career-high hitting percentage of .643 and Madison Daigle scoring eight kills. That duo combined for nine blocks while Kohl tallied six in the match.
 
On the Warhawks
UL Monroe has struggled against the Sun Belt Conference with the team's only wins coming at UL Lafayette and at Georgia Southern, both in five-setters. Since the victory over the Ragin' Cajuns, the Warhawks have dropped nine consecutive conference matches and nine of the team's last 10 matches. The only win in the stretch was a sweep of Grambling State.
 
Hope Pawlik leads ULM with 250 kills while Taylor Zaeske has 222. Also over 200 kills on the season is Hadley Swartz with 201. Kaitlyn Shearer is the only other Warhawk in triple digits with 147 kills. Bayleigh Hoffman runs the offense with 761 assists, 8.65 assists per set, while also leading the team in service aces with 34. Swartz has 32 service aces, and two more Warhawks are in the twenties in service.
 
Defensively, five of ULM's players have triple-digit digs with Zaeske leading the way at 252 on the season. Not far behind is Tara Jenkins with 249. At the net, Shearer leads the team with 75 blocks, 15 of which are solo. The nearest Warhawk after her is Pawlik with 35 blocks.
 
On the Trojans
Troy was the hottest team in the Sun Belt Conference outside of the two undefeated teams Arkansas State and Appalachian State going into last weekend, but the Bobcats and South Alabama busted that bubble, dropping the Trojans in consecutive matches. The Trojans will get a chance to rebound at UT Arlington Friday night before they face Texas State against on Saturday.
 
Before those two losses, Troy had won eight consecutive matches after falling in the nine previous matches. Going into last weekend, the Trojans were sitting in fourth place in the Sun Belt Conference, but after the two losses, Troy has dropped to sixth place.
 
The top offensive threat for Troy is Blair Winston with 273 kills on the season. No other Trojan has more than 186 kills. The difference isn't quite as pronounced during conference play with Winston at 116 kills against conference opponents and Sara Landis not far behind with 92.
 
Reina Terry runs the offense from the setter position with 648 assists. She is also second on the team with 203 digs. The leader, however, is Ali Dowdall with 456 digs on the season. At the net, Darby Griff has 98 blocks while Landis has 80 on the season.
 
On the Bobcats
Texas State split last weekend and is looking to stay strong at home this weekend. So far this season, the Bobcats are 8-2 at Strahan Coliseum and a strong 5-0 at home during conference play. Currently sitting third place in the SBC, the Bobcats will be looking to sweep the weekend against UL Monroe and Troy.
 
The Bobcats did see a brief return to action from middle blocker Jaliyah Bolden. Fans could see more of her as the season progresses. For now, though, there is a rotation of three with Morgan Lewis, Madison Daigle and Lauren Kirch. Lewis hit the best hitting percentage of her career against Troy last week while Daigle, the freshman, turned in a balanced performance on both offense and defense last week.
 
Erin Hoppe continues to run the offense with 633 assists and 34 service aces. Jordan Kohl leads the team in kills with 245 while Shelby Vas Matt and Kelsey Weynand each have four double-doubles. Lewis has the team lead in blocks with 80 while Sierra Smith continues to lead the team in digs with 280.
 
A Look Ahead
After this weekend, the Bobcats will take to the road for the Louisiana swing to play UL Monroe and UL Lafayette on next Thursday and Saturday. After that, Texas State returns home to host South Alabama in the season finale on senior night, Friday, Nov. 13 at 6:30 p.m. The next challenge after that will be the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament in Statesboro, Ga. Nov. 20-22.