ARLINGTON, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team used a clinical performance to topple South Alabama 3-0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-18) in the first round of the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Championship Friday afternoon inside College Park Center.
 
The Bobcats (21-11), the tournament's No. 3 seed, advanced to the semifinals and will face No. 2 Coastal Carolina at 4 p.m. Nov. 19. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
 
TXST collected its season high third-straight 3-0 victory to end the Jaguars' (16-14) season for the second year in a row. The Bobcats improved to 7-2 all-time in the SBC Championship, and the maroon and gold have now reached the semifinals all four years since joining the league in 2013.
 
In Friday's triumph, junior Jaliyah Bolden had a blistering 16 kills on a .429 attack percentage. Senior Lauren Kirch added 11 kills to the winning effort. Junior Erin Hoppe paced the offense with 35 assists, while senior Shelby Vas Matt (12), freshman Micah Dinwiddie (11) and senior Kelsey Weynand (10) all tallied double-digit digs.
 
Texas State got the match started with a 25-22 first-set victory. The Bobcats began on a high note by pushing ahead 14-9 in the early going. They controlled the tempo, as five of the first nine points scored by USA were gifted to the Jaguars via service error. South Alabama drew back within one at 17-16 and maintained the narrow deficit until 19-18, but a quick three-point run and sideouts the rest of the way were all TXST needed to secure the opening frame.
 
The second set was nearly identical to the first. The Bobcats took a big lead early, USA narrowed the gap late, but ultimately the Jaguars could not quite hang with the maroon and gold. Texas State initially jumped on top 9-3, but South Alabama climbed back to within one on three different occasions. Texas State took a slim 14-13 lead and used a 7-1 run to turn put a stranglehold on the set. The Jaguars continued to fight and got back within three at 23-20, but the maroon and gold stayed strong and captured the set 25-21.
 
The third set was all Bobcats. TXST jumped on top 10-1 before USA was finally able to wrangle any momentum to the other side of the court. The Jaguars actually got within three at 19-16 and stayed close at 21-18, but Texas State scored each of the final four points to earn the sweep.
 
Iva Durdanovic led South Alabama with nine kills. Kellyn Reeves dished out 13 assists, and Ashlyn Roberts added 10 assists.
 
Texas State led USA in kills (43-29), attack percentage (.194-.156), assists (41-29), service aces (6-1), and digs (42-36). The Jaguars led in blocks 11.5-6.
 
The Bobcats improved to 7-2 all-time over South Alabama.
 
TEXAS STATE COACH KAREN CHISUM
Opening statement…
"I'm extremely pleased to go to the next round. It may not be exactly like we had it down on paper. Not the prettiest match but again when you get in these situations, the first round match is always the hardest of all. The pressure is on there. You win that first match, get the butterflies out and move on and hopefully we will be better. I have not doubt. There are two of my kids that played great today, Jaliyah Bolden and I would tell you that we were all disappointed that she was not all conference. So fortunately she was able to step up and show what she could do. Lauren Kirch had a very good game. We struggled a little bit. We jumped out in front of South Alabama in all three games but we did not hold that. We let them get back in the game. But we were fortunate to hold and and move on to see Coastal or Georgia Southern."
 
On positives of the match and building off it in the second round…
"You are right, but you know coaches are never satisfied. You are right. When we go into the locker room and I talk to them, we will talk about what we need to clean up, because we have to be a lot better tomorrow then what we were today, no matter who we play. But we are going to pat them on their back and tell them how special they are and what a great job they did today and how they are representing Texas State University. And we'll be moving on."
 
On junior Erin Hoppe's performance…
"(Erin) was a C+ or B-. I thought we passed pretty well. And of course early on we struggled serving. But first game. We got back, we settled down. Erin made some very good decisions. One thing we were disappointed in was hitter coverage. Kelsey (Weynand) and Shelby (Vas Matt) had some good swings but they were blocked. We had three people, semi-circle ready to play it and we didn't touch it. But things we know what to do and things we can get better at. But that is our job to get them prepared for tomorrow."
 
On a second-round matchup vs. Coastal Carolina or Georgia Southern…
"One of them is going to win and we are going to play one of them. It has been so long since we've seen Coastal. It was the very second match of the season, or third match of the season. We'll watch film. You know this, but we don't look ahead. We haven't looked at video of Coastal. It has been all about USA. So this evening, now after this match, we will go back to the hotel and look at what they are doing, what we have to do against them and hopefully get a good gameplan and be able to execute it."
 
-TxStateBobcats.com-