Texas State Falls To Utah
PORTLAND, Ore. –Texas State University volleyball fell 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 27-25) to PAC-12 member Utah at the University of Portland hosted North Harbour Marriott Challenge Friday evening.
Utah (5-2) held a .347-.247 team hitting advantage and a slight 47-40 edge in kills. Texas State (5-5) owned a 32-26 lead in digs. Lauren Kirch led the Bobcats with a .429 hitting percentage, along with 11 kills and 3 blocks. Jaliyah Bolden counted nine blocks while posting a .316 hitting percentage.
Adora Anae and Carly Trueman led the Utes in kills with 14 and 11, respectively, while Berkely Oblad posted a .467 hitting percentage and nine kills.
Utah took the early advantage in the first set, jumping out to a 10-5 lead and forcing Texas State to use its first timeout. A .250 team hitting percentage helped keep the Utes in front, and the Bobcats called their second timeout while trailing by six, 19-13. Utah managed to stay ahead by at least five points for the remainder of the set.
The second set was a close affair, featuring four lead changes and seven ties. Texas State took its final a lead at 18-17 on a Utah service error, but the Utes scored four of the next five points to regain the advantage. Utah led 23-20 before back-to-back kills by Kirch tightened the match, but the Utes received two kills by Adora Anae to seal the 25-23 second set win.
The Bobcats took an early 12-7 lead in the third set thanks to a 7-2 run after Utah tied the match at five. However, the lead would be short lived as Utah scored seven of the next nine points to tie the set 14-14. The Bobcats regained the lead at 18-16 with a Bolden kill and Van Matts ace bookending a pair of Utah errors. Utah would tie the match 22-22 on an Anae ace and take the lead on a Oblad kill. Vas Matt and Alex Silver countered with a kill and ace, respectively, pushing the score to 24-24. Texas State tied the match again at 25, but Utah would count the final two points for the 27-25 set win.
Texas State concludes the tournament Saturday (Sept. 10) with a Noon (CDT) match against the host Pilots.
