Volleyball | 11/4/2015 3:29:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State is set to make a road trip through Louisiana this week to play Sun Belt Conference opponents UL Monroe and UL Lafayette. It will be the final road trip of the regular season before the Bobcats return to San Marcos to host South Alabama on Nov. 13.
 
Match 1 Info: Texas State (15-11, 10-3 SBC) at UL Monroe (13-15, 3-10 SBC)
Site: Fant-Ewing Coliseum – Monroe, La.
Date: Thursday, November 5 – 6:30 p.m.
 
Match 2 Info: Texas State (15-11, 10-3 SBC) at UL Lafayette (5-21, 1-12 SBC)
Site: Earl K. Long Gym – Lafayette, La.
Date: Saturday, November 7 – 6:30 p.m.
 
The Series
Vs. UL Monroe: 37-2
Last Meeting: W, 3-0 (11/1/15)
 
Texas State and UL Monroe have met 39 times in history with the Bobcats winning nearly every match to hold a 37-2 advantage in the all-time series. The Bobcats have won the last seven matches, and seven matches previous to ULM's most recent victory in 2005. In the last six matches, Texas State has only dropped one set and that came on the road in a 3-1 win on Sept. 21, 2014.
 
In fact, the Bobcats just swept the Warhawks last Sunday, 25-15, 25-14, 25-22. Texas State put on a dominating performance, outblocking ULM, 13-3 with a hitting percentage of .296 to UL Monroe's .000.
 
Kelsey Weynand stepped up with 11 kills on a .444 hitting percentage and Madison Daigle tallied nine kills with a .533 hitting percentage in the first match of her SBC Freshman of the Week bid. Shelby Vas Matt and Jaliyah Bolden combined for 12 more kills while Emily Shelton and Erin Hoppe gave out a combined 29 assists. The Bobcats dominated the net with five blocks from Morgan Lewis and four each from Lauren Kirch, Bolden (one solo) and Vas Matt (two solo).
 
Vs. UL Lafayette: 10-0
Last Meeting: W, 3-0 (9/20/15)
 
The Bobcats are a perfect 10-0 against UL Lafayette in the all-time series, including a 3-0 victory on the first weekend of Sun Belt action on Sept. 20. Texas State swept the Ragin' Cajuns, 26-24, 25-17, 25-18.
 
Despite the first set being close, the Bobcats went on to play well in the match with 12 more kills, one more ace, 20 more assists and 11 more digs than ULL. Three Bobcats tallied double-digit kills in the meeting with Jordan Kohl leading the way with 18 kills on a .419 hitting percentage. Shelby Vas Matt tallied 16 kills (.351) while Madison Daigle put down 13 (.500). Erin Hoppe gave out 40 assists with two service aces and added nine digs. Sierra Smith led the way with 23 digs while Ali Hubicsak chipped in nine more.
 
On the Warhawks
UL Monroe has struggled against the Sun Belt Conference with the team's only wins coming at UL Lafayette, at Georgia Southern and, most recently, at UT Arlington. During conference play, the Warhawks are winless at home. Since the team's victory over the Ragin' Cajuns, the Warhawks have dropped 10 of 11 conference matches and 10 of the team's last 12 matches. The only wins in the stretch were a sweep of Grambling State and a four-set victory over UT Arlington.
 
Hope Pawlik leads ULM with 271 kills while Taylor Zaeske has 246. Also over 200 kills on the season is Hadley Swartz with 205. Kaitlyn Shearer is the only other Warhawk in triple digits with 156 kills. Bayleigh Hoffman runs the offense with 833 assists, 8.77 assists per set, while also leading the team in service aces with 36. 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 270 on the season. Not far behind is Tara Jenkins with 269. At the net, Shearer leads the team with 77 blocks, 16 of which are solo. The nearest Warhawk after her is Pawlik with 37 blocks.
 
On the Ragin' Cajuns
UL Lafayette has dropped eight consecutive matches going into the weekend and 10 of the team's last 11. Furthermore, the Ragin' Cajuns have lost 16 of the last 18 matches. The team's only win in conference play came at UL Monroe after losing to the Warhawks in Lafayette. At home this year, UL Monroe is 3-6.
 
Chanelle Gardner leads the team in kills with 214 while Sara Mossakowski has 147 and Kaley Kyle has 106. Those are the only Cajuns with triple-digit kills. Gardner is averaging 2.28 kills per set while Mossakowski's average is 2.19. Jessica Bartczyszyn has given out 521 assists this year while Keely Hayes has passed out 249. Five Cajuns have double-digit service aces, but they have been outserved by their opponents, 121-103.
 
Sydney Davis leads the back end of the defense with 340 digs while Stacey Reilly has 199. Mossakowski has added 156 on the season. At the net, Gardner also leads the team in blocks with 73, including 17 solo blocks. Mossakowski is next on the board with 41 blocks. Nobody else has more than 28.
 
On the Bobcats
Texas State is coming off a strong weekend with consecutive sweeps of Troy and UL Monroe. For her work on the week, freshman Madison Daigle was named the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Week, the first such award of her career and the second weekly award of the season for the team since Sierra Smith took Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week honors on Oct. 5. Now, Daigle, a Baton Rouge native, will prepare to take down her home state this weekend.
 
She leads the team in hitting percentage at .306 after her efficient week. She has 128 kills on the season, the fifth Bobcat with triple-digit kills behind Jordan Kohl (246), Shelby Vas Matt (200), Kelsey Weynand (184) and Morgan Lewis (161). Lewis leads the team in blocks with 91, but Daigle is second with 52. Not far behind is Kohl with 49 blocks.
 
On the back end of the defense, Smith leads with 306 digs for a 4.25 digs per set average, but is averaging 5.24 digs per set during conference play. Vas Matt is second on the team with 203 digs while Weynand has 184 and Erin Hoppe has 142. Ali Hubicsak is the only other Bobcat with triple-digit digs at 108, but Alex Silver has 98.
 
Hoppe leads the team in assists with 661, but the Bobcats have been running a 6-2 rotation lately with Emily Shelton pitching in quite a bite. She has 273 digs on the season but 108 of those assists have come in the last six matches, averaging 18 assists per match.
 
Hoppe, though, has been the better server with 35 service aces. Next on the team is Vas Matt with 24 aces. Texas State has a decided advantage against its opponents in serve/receive this season with 139 aces to just 67 for the team's opponents.
 
A Look Ahead
Next up for Texas State will be to return home to host South Alabama in the regular 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.