Volleyball | 9/23/2015 1:53:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State takes the team's 2-0 Sun Belt Conference record to the road this weekend for matches at Georgia State and Appalachian State. That's right. The same Georgia State the Bobcats played last weekend will be the first team Texas State plays on the road this weekend. To add excitement to the road trip, fans can watch Texas State play Appalachian State on ESPN3 on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. CST.
 
Match 1 Info: Texas State (7-7, 2-0 SBC) at Georgia State (4-8, 0-2 SBC)
Site: GSU Sports Arena – Atlanta, Ga.
Date: Thursday, September 24 – 5 p.m. CST / 6 p.m. EST
 
Match 2 Info: Texas State (7-7, 2-0 SBC) at Appalachian State (9-4, 2-0 SBC)
Site: Holmes Convocation Center – Boone, N.C.
Date: Saturday, September 26 – 5:30 p.m. CST / 6:30 p.m. EST
 
The Series
Vs. Georgia State: 6-2      
Last Meeting: W, 3-1 (9/18/15)
 
It doesn't take too big of a step into history to find the last time these two teams met as Texas State took down the Panthers, 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 20-25, 25-17), just last Friday. The Bobcats started strong with 14 kills to just three errors on 30 attempts for a .367 hitting percentage in the opening frame. They went on to make it a good finish with 17 kills in the fourth set to close out the match.
 
Jordan Kohl led the team in kills with 14 while Morgan Lewis finished with 13 kills on a .440 hitting percentage and added six blocks. Freshman Madison Daigle also added double-digit kills, finishing with 10 in the match. Erin Hoppe gave out 43 assists with five kills, four blocks and six digs while Sierra Smith added 16 digs in the match. Shelby Vas Matt and Kelsey Weynand combined for 22 digs.
 
Vs. Appalachian State: 2-1
Last Meeting: L, 3-0 (11/20/14)
 
It's been a short series against the Mountaineers for the Bobcats with a match in 2000 followed by two matches last season, App State's first in the Sun Belt. Both teams won at home last year and both by sweeps. The Mountaineers took the last one at their place, 25-21, 25-23, 32-30, as the Bobcats fought hard to stay alive in the third set.
 
Texas State went deep into the bench in the last meeting, playing 13 Bobcats. Now departed Alexandra Simms was the only Bobcat in double figures with 11 kills while Jordan Kohl added nine and Keeley Davis put down five. Caylin Mahoney gave out 17 assists with 10 digs for a double-double in one of her first matches back after injury. Meanwhile, Sierra Smith had 14 digs while Shelby Vas Matt finished with 12. Both Lauren Kirch and Kohl had five blocks in the match.
 
On the Panthers
Georgia State has now dropped four matches in a row after a stretch of four wins in five matches. One of those four consecutive losses came at the hands of the Bobcats last Friday. After that, Georgia State fell on the road to UT Arlington by the same score.
 
For the season, Kristina Stinson leads Georgia State in kills with 158, but Deidra Bohannon has the lead in conference play with 32. For the year, she has 152 kills. Stinson has 28 kills against SBC opponents and the only other Panther with double-digit kills in the first two matches of conference play is Kitan Ajanaku with 19. Stinson hurt the Bobcats the most in the last meeting when she put down 19 kills on a .310 hitting percentage.
 
Natalia Nieto runs the offense with 469 assists on the season and 79 in the SBC. Sydney Mauer has 19 service aces on the year but counters with 23 service errors while Stinson has 18 aces to just 11 errors. Bohannon and Nieto have combined for 23 service aces. With 221 digs, Gabby Serafin leads the team from the back line, but Bohannon has tallied 146 digs to be the only other Panther in double-digits. At the net, Ajanaku leads the team by far with 40 blocks. Next up is Bohannon with 27.
 
On the Mountaineers
After Georgia State, the Bobcats head to North Carolina to play a strong Appalachian State team that stands at 9-4 on the season and undefeated in the first two conference matches. The Mountaineers have won five consecutive matches and six of the team's last seven. They were able to survive on the road this past weekend with a 3-2 victory at Troy and a 3-1 win at South Alabama.
 
The App State attack is propelled by Jess Keller who has 225 kills on the season for a gaudy 4.41 kills per set average. Behind her is Emily Corrigan with 171 kills (3.35) and Ashton Gregory with 119 (3.05). The key to Appalachian State's offensive attack, though, is setter Paige Brown. She has won all four SBC Setter of the Week awards this season with 590 on the year for an 11.57 assists per set average. She is also hitting .418 with 25 kills, seven service aces, 145 digs and 15 blocks.
 
Olivia Reed leads the team in aces with nine, but she has 25 service errors. The Mountaineers have 48 aces to their opponents' 53. Defensively, Meghan Mahoney leads the team in digs with 252 (4.94 digs per set) while Corrigan and Brown back her up as the only other Mountaineers with triple-digit digs. At the net, Gregory leads the team with 35 blocks, six solo. Corrigan has 21 while Alana Shoff has 20.
 
On the Bobcats
After a tough start to the season, the Bobcats look to have improved with three consecutive victories heading into the weekend and four wins in their last six matches. Texas State put on a dominating performance last match against UL Lafayette, mounting a furious comeback in the opening set to go up 1-0 and dominating the rest of the way for a sweep. This week, Texas State could get a boost with the possible return of Lauren Kirch.
 
For the Bobcats, last season's SBC Freshman of the Year Jordan Kohl continues to lead the team in kills with 133 on the season. Shelby Vas Matt has 94 while Morgan Lewis is at 89. The Bobcats have started working their middles into the offense more lately and the results have been undeniable. Lewis finished with 13 kills and a .440 hitting percentage against Georgia State while Madison Daigle had 23 combined kills in the last two matches, finishing with a .500 performance in the sweep of UL Lafayette.
 
Erin Hoppe looks to be Texas State's top setter with two of her three highest assists numbers this season coming in the last two matches: 43 against Georgia State and 40 in just a three-set sweep of UL Lafayette. She has 311 on the year and also leads the team in service aces with 16 while Vas Matt has 14 on the year.
 
Sierra Smith continues to pace the Bobcats in digs with 167, putting up 12 digs in the first set alone against UL Lafayette. She is averaging 3.71 digs per set. Kelsey Weynand has 96 while Vas Matt has 87 for the season. At the net, Lewis leads the way with 45 blocks. After that, Jaliyah Bolden has 31 while Kohl has 27 on the year. Of Daigle's 23 blocks, 16 of them have come in the last five matches.
 
A Look Ahead
After this weekend, the Bobcats return home for a three-match stand against Little Rock, Georgia Southern and UT Arlington. The defending SBC Champion Little Rock Trojans will face Texas State at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on the first day of October, then Georgia Southern will play at 12 p.m. the following Saturday. The Bobcats will face UT Arlington on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at 6:30 p.m. before taking to the road to face Baylor, UTA, Arkansas State, Troy and South Alabama in a five-match road trip.