ATLANTA – The Texas State volleyball team defeated Little Rock 3-1 (25-18, 25-21, 24-26, 25-23) in the semifinals of the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championship Saturday night inside GSU Sports Arena.
 
The top-seeded Bobcats (25-6) reached the finals for the second year in a row and will face No. 2 Appalachian State at noon Nov. 18 for the tournament title. The Mountaineers (22-7) are winners of nine straight and are the hottest team in the league. The No. 4 seed Trojans (19-12) fell just short of reaching the 20-win margin for the first time since 2014.
 
The maroon and gold were led by a pair of true freshmen in Janell Fitzgerald and Emily DeWalt. Fitzgerald tallied 18 kills and a career-high six blocks, while DeWalt tallied 46 assists and 10 digs for her Sun Belt-leading 20th double-double of the season. Junior Micah Dinwiddie led the back row with 21 digs, while adding seven assists. Senior Madison Daigle (15) and junior Cheyenne Huskey (14) combined for 29 kills.
 
Veronica Marin led LR with 14 kills, but the nation's leading blocker finished with just two. Taylor Lindberg tallied 28 assists and 10 kills, and Pamela Zuluaga added 22 assists for the Trojans. Diana Giordani finished with 18 digs, and Mya Robinson had 11 kills.
 
Texas State led the match in kills (66-57), attack percentage (.327-.243), assists (62-53), and blocks (11-6). Little Rock led in digs (55-54), and both teams finished with three service aces.
 
SET 1
The Bobcats captured the opening period by a decisive 25-18 margin, but the scoreline was a bit deceiving as the frame was level on eight different occasions. Neither side led by more than two until the final tie at 18-18, but the maroon and gold finished on a commanding 7-0 run thanks in large part to dominant serving from Dinwiddie.
 
SET 2
Texas State entered the locker room leading 2-0 after claiming the second frame 25-21. The Bobcats led for the majority of the period, holding at least a one-point advantage the entire set after going ahead 6-5. Texas State's largest lead initially was four points at 11-7, but the Trojans were able to stay within striking distance. TXST needed one final surge to take a 22-17 lead, and the team was able to polish off the set from there.
 
SET 3
Little Rock fought back from an early 11-3 hole to win the third 26-24 and send the match to a fourth set. The Trojans scored eight-straight points to quickly climb out of their largest deficit of the night and there were 11 ties from that point on. Texas State peaked ahead at 22-20, but LR scored six of the next eight points to snatch the frame and – at least for the moment – deny the Bobcats a chance to advance to Sunday's championship match.
 
SET 4
Little Rock carried the momentum into the fourth and initially took an 8-5 advantage. Texas State came back to tie the period at 10-10 and swung ahead 17-14. The maroon and gold went ahead 20-15 and later found a 24-19 advantage. The Trojans fended off four match points, but Daigle lined up an emphatic kill on the fifth attempt to shut the door on the evening.
 
Texas State was able to knock off Little Rock for the third time this year. The Bobcats improved to 9-5 all-time over the Trojans and earned their first win over LR in the postseason (1-1).
 
TXST also improved to 9-4 all-time in the Sun Belt Championship and is now 6-0 in the team's opening match in the event.
 
Texas State is 5-3 all-time against Appalachian State and defeated the Mountaineers 3-0 in San Marcos on Oct. 12. App State is 1-0 all-time against TXST in the conference tournament, with the lone meeting between the two sides coming in the 2015 semifinals.

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