Volleyball | 9/7/2016 1:34:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State University volleyball team continues the nonconference portion of its 2016 campaign Friday and Saturday at the North Habour Marriott Challenge hosted by the University of Portland at the Chiles Center in Portland, Ore.
 
The Bobcats are slated to face CSU Bakersfield at Noon CDT and PAC-12 member Utah at 5 p.m. CDT on Friday. Texas State will close the tournament against the host Pilots on Saturday at Noon CDT.
 
NORTH HABOUR MARRIOTT SCHEDULE
Friday, Sept. 9
Noon             Texas State vs. CSU Bakersfield
5 p.m.           Utah vs. Texas State
7:30 p.m.      CSU Bakersfield vs. Portland
Saturday, Sept. 10
Noon             Texas State vs. Portland
3 p.m.            CSU Bakersfield vs. Utah
8 p.m.            Utah vs. Portland
 
Note: all times Central
 

• Live scoring for the entire tournament is available by clicking HERE.
• Live scoring links for Texas State's matches are available on the  Texas State volleyball schedule page.

 
TEXAS STATE NOTES

• Texas State enters the tournament with a 4-4 record after with wins over North Texas, Stephen F. Austin, Kennesaw State and Sam Houston State.
• Senior middle blocker Lauren Kirch is the reigning Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week after posting 19 kills in four matches.
• The Bobcats rank fifth in the NCAA with 74.5 total blocks, 29th with 362 kills and 34th with 337 assists.
• Through eight matches this season, the Bobcats are outhitting their opponents .214 to .209 and lead in kills (12.5-12.0) and blocks (2.6-1.8).
• Texas State ranks in the top five in the Sun Belt in blocks (second, 2.57), hitting percentage (fourth, .214), kills (fourth, 12.48) and assists (fifth, 11.62).
• Erin Hoppe leads the Bobcats with 199 assists and Emily Shelton follows with 93 assists through the Bobcats' first eight matches of the season. Mattie Adams has a team-high 58 digs and Kelsey Weynand follows with 51 digs on the season.
• Junior Jordan Kohl ranks third in the Sun Belt with a .367 hitting percentage and fifth at 3.19 kills per set.
• Kohl was named a preseason All-Sun Belt Conference selection by the league's head coaches after she earned second team All-SBC honors last season. She led the Bobcats with 320.8 total points after hitting .246 and averaging 2.78 kills and 0.59 blocks per set.
• It was quite a summer for Kohl, who won a pair of Gold Medals while playing for Team USA in the Pan American Deaf Regional Championship and the World Deaf Volleyball Championship.

 
SCOUTING CSU BAKERSFIELD

• The Roadrunners enter the tournament with a 1-6 record and are hitting .110 as a team, average 11.0 kills, 10.3 assists, 14.6 digs and 1.8 blocks per set.
• The Roadrunners dropped all three of its matches in Santa Barbara this past weekend, falling in straight sets to CSUSB, Baylor and Pittsburgh. CSUB's only win on the season is a 3-2 win over Army.
• Sydney Hanyes has a team-high 54 kills on the season, but she is followed by Sophie Flemion's 46 kills. Flemion, however, leads the team with 58 digs.
• Sidney Wicks has a team-high 96 assists, while Katie Dunbar-Lowe leads the team at the net with 19 total blocks.
• Giovana Melo is in her third season leading the Roadrunners, having directed the team to a WAC title and NCAA Tournament appearance in her first season.

 
SCOUTING UTAH

• Utah enters the tournament with a 4-2 record after posting a 2-1 mark at the Missouri Tiger Invitational this past weekend, picking up wins over Rice and Missouri on Friday, but falling to Illinois State on Saturday.
• The Utes heads into the week with a .291 team hitting percentage. That is good enough for third-place in the Pac-12 rankings and No. 20 overall in the nation.
• Sophomore Jessie Openshaw ranks second on the team with six service aces, but she is fourth in the Pac-12 with a 0.43 aces per set average. Adora Anae has tallied a team-best eight aces and ranks seventh in the league with 0.35 aces per set.
• Head coach Beth Launiere is in her 27th season at Utah and has amassed 505 career victories.

 
SCOUTING PORTLAND

• The Pilots is 3-3 overall after a 1-2 showing at the Fresno State Tournament last week, falling to DePaul and Portland State before notching a win over the Bulldogs.
• Hanna Troutman leads Portland with 69 kills, while she and Reghan Pukis have a team-high 3.00 kills-per-set average. Katie Sullivan has 50 kills on the season and a team-best .355 hitting percentage.
• Carli Thompson has registered a team-high 209 assists and Monica Gajda leads her squad with 71 digs. Sullivan leads the team at the net with 21 total blocks.
• The Pilots are hitting .242 on the season, while averaging 12.04 kills, 11.35 assists, 12.39 digs and 1.98 blocks per set.

 
UP NEXT
The Bobcats will head to the Dugan Wellness Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, next Tuesday, Sept. 13, to face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. Texas State will then close out the week and its nonconference schedule at the UTSA-hosted Roadrunner roundup Sept. 15-16.