Texas State Cruises To Win Over Little Rock
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team took down Little Rock 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-19) Saturday night at Strahan Coliseum in Sun Belt Conference action.
The Bobcats (12-9, 5-1 SBC) 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.
Senior Kelsey Weynand led TXST with a match-high 13 kills and eight digs. Fellow senior Lauren Kirch tallied 11 kills and four blocks while posting career highs in attack percentage (.600) and service aces (4). Junior Erin Hoppe dished out 37 assists, and freshman Micah Dinwiddie registered a match-high 18 digs.
The Bobcats jumped on top 6-0 in the first set led by quality serving from freshman Mattie Adams. Little Rock got on the board with a kill from Carolee Dillard, but the visitors quickly found themselves in a 16-4 hole. LR was able to crawl back and get within seven at 21-14, but Texas State closed strong and won the opener 25-16.
The second set was all Bobcats, as the maroon and gold powered ahead 10-4 and never looked back. They went into the break with a 2-0 advantage following a dominant 25-12 triumph in the set.
Texas State again powered to an early lead in the final set, this time, a 7-3 advantage. The home team kept the momentum and went on top 19-11 before holding on for the 25-19 victory.
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).
Marina Avram led the Trojans with 11 digs and 10 kills. Taylor Lindberg had a team-best 14 assists.
Texas State will play just one match this upcoming week, and it will be on the road against UT Arlington. The Bobcats and Mavericks will compete at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in Arlington, Texas.
TEXAS STATE COACH KAREN CHISUM
Opening statement…
“I think the team really grew in confidence after our win last night (against Arkansas State). They believe in themselves. One of the keys we talked about coming into this match was how (Little Rock) was going to be a totally different team than the one we played last night. (Little Rock) likes to run their middles, but they set real high on the outside. Last night, it was low and quick on the outside. We had to adjust our block to account for that, and I thought we did a really good job with that.”
On tonight’s strategy…
“We wanted to come out fast and not let them get in a rhythm. We were able to get commanding leads in all three of the sets, and we held on to them all. We didn’t pass very well tonight, but I thought we served much better than we did last night. (Little Rock) struggled on serve/receive and ball control, and were able to get some points there. It’s a good win just to get another one at home. I was concerned about being so hyped after last night. I didn’t know how the team would respond coming into this match. Hats off to the maturity of our team and the confidence that they have in themselves. I’m very pleased that we were able to go 3-1 in these four home matches, and I’m pleased to be 5-1 in the conference.”
