Texas State Volleyball Teams Drops 3-0 Decision to No. 15 Ohio State

DENTON, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team opened the 2016 season falling 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-14) against No. 15-ranked Ohio State in the first round of the North Texas Challenge on Friday afternoon at the Mean Green Volleyball Center.

The Bobcats were competitive early in the match when they battled to within 7-5 in the opening set on a block by Lauren Kirch and Emily Shelton. The Buckeyes answered with a 6-1 rally to take a 13-6 lead. 

Texas State came back and pulled to within 15-11 after Shelton set up Madison Daigle for a kill and Kelsey Weynand for another kill. But, Ohio State opened up a 20-12 lead before going to win the opening set by a score of 25-16.

In the second game, the Buckeyes jumped out to an early 9-4 lead and never looked back. Ohio State outhit the Bobcats (.542-.083) as Texas State fell 25-15 in the second set.

The third set began in similar fashion as the first set when both teams battled back and forth. Weynand registered a kill and forced OSU into an attacking error while Jaliyah Bolden added another kill to tie the score at 3-3. After Ohio State opened up a 6-3 lead, Texas State answered with a couple of points of its own when Erin Hoppe set up Kirch for a kill and forced an attacking error to pull the Bobcats back to within 7-6. However, the Buckeyes took control with an 8-4 run and went on to win the final set 25-14.

Weynand led Texas State with eight kills and had a .312 hitting percentage. Audrey Appold had 14 kills after recording five in each of the first two sets and had a .385 attacking clip to lead the Buckeyes.

Texas State will look to win a pair of matches on Saturday when the Bobcats face the host school, North Texas, at 11 a.m. after the Mean Green split a pair of matches with a five-set win over Nevada and a three-set loss against the Buckeyes.
The Bobcats close out the tournament against Nevada at 4 p.m. Texas State returns home to host Baylor in their first home match of the season at Strahan Coliseum on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. The Bobcats also host the Creeds and Crest Classic on Sept. 2-3.