Volleyball | 10/11/2016 3:04:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team is set to hit the road after wrapping up a four-match homestand this past weekend. The Bobcats will begin their three-match road swing with one outing this week, which will be a 6:30 p.m. tilt Oct. 13 against UT Arlington.

The Mavericks have dropped two of their last three matches after winning five in a row, and they are leading the all-time series against TXST 41-33. The match will be contested at College Park Center, which is also the site of this year's Sun Belt Conference Championship tournament, which is set to be contested Nov. 18-20.
 
Match Info: Texas State (12-9, 5-1 SBC) at UT Arlington (10-11, 4-2 SBC)
Site: College Park Center – Arlington, Texas
Date: Thursday, October 13 – 6:30 pm
The Series: UT Arlington leads 41-33
Last Meeting: TXST def. UTA 3-1 (10/15/15)

THE LAST TIME OUT
The Bobcats took down Little Rock 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-19) Saturday night inside Strahan Coliseum. They closed out their four-match homestand by winning their last three outings. The Trojans dropped to 6-13 overall and 2-4 in league play. Kelsey Weynand led TXST with a match-high 13 kills and eight digs. Lauren Kirch tallied 11 kills and four blocks, while posting career highs in attack percentage (.600) and service aces (4). Erin Hoppe dished out 37 assists, and Micah Dinwiddie registered a match-high 18 digs. The Bobcats never hit less than .300 in any of the three sets and finished with a .312 hitting percentage. That mark was the second-highest of the season. The visitors hit just .117. TXST also led in total kills (44-27), aces (7-1), digs (44-32) and assists (41-27).
 
BOBCATS NEARLY SWEEP LEAGUE LAURELS THIS WEEK
Texas State had three student-athletes earn Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week awards, the league announced on Oct. 10. Kelsey Weynand was selected as the SBC Offensive Player of the Week, Erin Hoppe was honored as the SBC Setter of the Week, and Megan Porter took home SBC Freshman of the Week accolades. The trio of Bobcats helped lead TXST to a 2-0 week that included a 3-1 victory over Arkansas State and a 3-0 triumph over Little Rock. This was the first time in 2016 that one school has won at least three of the four weekly awards distributed by the conference office. Weynand posted 4.29 kills per set (30 total) and a .292 attack percentage in the two matches. The senior tallied a season-high 17 kills against A-State coupled with just three errors, and followed that up with 13 kills against the Trojans. The two matches were the first time all year Weynand posted double-digit kills in back-to-back matches. She had eight digs in both matches and finished with 16 total for the week. Hoppe averaged 11.6 assists per set and finished with 81 total. Against A-State, she recorded 44 assists to go along with 12 digs, three blocks and one kill. She registered 37 assists, three digs and two blocks against the Trojans. Porter finished the week with 3.57 kills per set (25 total) and a .292 hitting percentage. She also blasted a match- and career-high 18 kills against the Red Wolves and followed that up with a seven-kill effort on a .353 attack percentage against the Trojans. This is the first career award for all three Bobcats and the fourth weekly accolade by a member of the team this season. Senior middle blocker Lauren Kirch won SBC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Sept. 5. The last Texas State volleyball player to be named the SBC Offensive Player of the Week was Amari Deardorff on Sept. 3, 2013. Hoppe's laurel was the first by a TXST setter since the Bobcats joined the conference in 2013. She also halted a six-week Setter of the Week streak by A-State's Mallory Warrington. The last time a Bobcat was named the freshman of the week was Madison Daigle on Nov. 9, 2015.

TEXAS STATE HANDS DEFENDING CHAMPS FIRST SETBACK SINCE 2014
The Bobcats toppled Arkansas State 3-1 (25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 25-16) on Oct. 7 inside Strahan Coliseum. The loss snapped the Red Wolves' 23-match win streak against Sun Belt opponents. A-State went undefeated in league play last season and had not lost a conference match since 2014. Megan Porter paced the winning effort with a season-high 18 kills, while Kelsey Weynand was right behind with 17. She also added eight digs. Erin Hoppe registered 44 assists and 12 digs, while freshman Micah Dinwiddie had a match-high 22 digs. Fellow freshman Mattie Adams also contributed 10 digs. The Bobcats outhit Arkansas State .233-.140. The hitting percentage for the Red Wolves was their worst since hitting .126 against UL Lafayette on Nov. 2, 2014. TXST also led in blocks (11-5) and service aces (3-1).