SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team won both of its matches on the first day of the Creeds & Crests Classic in Strahan Coliseum on Friday. The Bobcat opened with a 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 25-29 25-20) win over Stephen F. Austin and closed the day with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-17) victory against Kennesaw State.
 
With the two wins, Texas State is now 3-3 on the season. The Lady Jacks and Owls dropped both of their two contests on the day and are now 2-3 and 1-5 on the year, respectively.
 
Match 1: Stephen F. Austin
The Bobcats jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening stanza, capped off by a combined block by Jordan Kohl and Morgan Lewis. SFA answered back with five straight points of its own.
 
A kill by Kohl followed by a block courtesy of Lauren Kirch and Kohl knotted the score 6-6. Three consecutive points for the Lady Jacks put them back in front until they committed an attack error to give the lead back to Texas State at 15-14.
 
The fifth attack error of the set by SFA put the Bobcats in front 20-19. The Lady Jacks responded by winning six of the next seven points to take the first set 25-21.
 
Down by two in the second set, a kill from Kohl kicked started a 4-1 burst for the Bobcats. However, SFA edged closer to taking the set following a Bobcat block error to give the Lady Jacks a 22-20 advantage. Texas State responded by winning the next five points thanks to two kills from Kelsey Weynand and one by Kohl. Emily Shelton capped the run off with an ace.
 
The Bobcats dominated the last two sets by recording 35 kills on a .373 attack percentage. Defensively, Texas State held SFA to 18 kills with a lowly .099 attack percentage.
 
Kohl led all players with 20 kills, her second straight match of at least 20 kills. Weynand posted a double-double with season-highs of 19 kills and 16 digs and hit .390. Shelton posted a match-high 35 assists and Erin Hoppe added 24.
 
Defensively, Kohl posted a team best three blocks. Jaliyah Bolden, Madison Daigle and Kirch all recorded two blocks apiece.
 
Match 2: Kennesaw State
The first set was close early during which the teams tied the score six times and traded the lead on three occurrences. A kill by Weynand kick started an 8-1 run for Texas State to go up 17-10 on the way to a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
KSU kept sets two and three close but the Bobcat had too much fire power. Texas State had 27 kills and a .250 attack percentage in those sets to just 21 kills and a .077 hitting percentage for the Owls. The Bobcats also had nine blocks over the final two stanzas.
 
Leading all players with 10 kills was Kohl. She recorded just one error on 21 attempts for a .476 attack percentage. The junior also added five blocks. Both Kirch and Weynand finished with nine kills apiece. Hoppe was credited with 34 assists and three aces.
 
Defensively, Kirch posted a match-high six blocks. Bolden finished with five, two of them being solo rejections. Ending the night with 14 digs was freshman Mattie Adams.
 
Texas State concludes the Creeds & Crests Classic on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Tulsa. The winner of the match will be crowned the tournament's champion.