PHOTO COURTESY OF A-STATE ATHLETICS

The Arkansas State Red Wolves continued their run of dominance with a weekend series sweep of the Texas State Bobcats.

To give Arkansas State’s volleyball team their fourth consecutive win, the Red Wolves battled back and forth in match one before overpowering the Texas State Bobcats in their second match. 

In their first match against the Bobcats on Friday, the Red Wolves would either trail or be tied with Texas State until a service error on the Bobcats side gave Arkansas State the ball and the momentum to pull ahead 12-8. 

After some more back and forth, the Red Wolves keeping their lead at 19-16, A-State fell apart like they often do at the end of sets, giving Texas State the opportunity to go on a six in a row scoring rally, putting them at 23-19. While A-State would get to 23, Texas State would secure the first set.

The Red Wolves would switch sides and instantly have the momentum after two attack errors and an ace from outside hitter Kaitlin Whitlock would put A-State up three to start the set. The Red Wolves would stay in the lead during the set thanks to multiple aces from A-State and multiple errors from Texas State’s side of the court. 

The Red Wolves would tie the match 1-1 after taking set two 25-12.

After a rough start to set three, the Red Wolves would score more points in a row than the Bobcats, tying them up 17-17. Texas State would pull ahead with four in a row before a service error would give the Red Wolves back the ball at 22-19. 

Arkansas State would score four in a row bringing the score to 22-22, give the ball back to Texas State for 23-22. The Red Wolves would win the set with three points in a row for another close set.

The fourth set would start out a lot like the third with Texas State ahead but A-State not far behind. However, after service errors from the Red Wolves throughout the set, the Bobcats would force a fifth and final set after winning the fourth 25-21.

In the fifth set, with a score of 9-7 Texas State, the Red Wolves would go on a run with multiple kills, Texas State errors, and an outside hitter Devyn Lewis ace. The Red Wolves would push the final set 9-14 before the Bobcats would have a service error and give A-State the match win. 

During the match, the Red Wolves recorded 62 kills, 15 errors, 167 team assists, a hitting percentage of .281, 9 blocks, 12 aces and 69 digs. 

Right side hitter Addison Collum would lead the pack in kills with a total of 16. Libero Mia Maloney had three aces and 18 digs throughout the match. Middle blocker Daedrianna Cail had a total six blocks, the most out of both teams. Erin Madigan had the most blocks, by far, out of A-State and Texas State with 42. 

The Red Wolves would beat the Bobcats that next afternoon 3-0, easily sweeping Texas State. 

While the match started out in the first set looking like the same team, the Bobcats and the Red Wolves keeping the set close the majority of the time, A-State would go on a run of six thanks to attack errors from Texas State and kills from A-State. This point rally would put the game 16-19 Red Wolves.

Even though the set would be back and forth again, with A-State in the lead, they won the set 19-25 thanks to two in a row attack errors from the Bobcats.

The Red Wolves would have another long score rally, tacking on seven points for a 15-6 lead. A-State and Texas State would trade points before the Red Wolves ultimately take set two after a Bobcats attack error seals the set 25-17.

Texas State would keep the third set close as both teams traded long rallies throughout but two aces by Lewis followed by a kill by Cail would win the match for the Red Wolves 17-25.

Throughout the match, the Red Wolves recorded 36 kills, 11 errors, 96 team assists, a hitting percentage of .260, 9 blocks, 15 aces and 42 digs.

Collum would once again lead the team in kills, scoring a total of eight in the match. Lewis had three aces throughout the match, two being set three. Middle blocker Haley Glunz recorded eight blocks during the match. Madigan had the most assists and digs of the team at 22 and 12 respectively. 

With the win over the Bobcats, the Red Wolves improve to 12-6 overall and 5-2 in Sun Belt play. A-State heads to Troy for their next matchup against the Troy Trojans at 6 p.m. on Oct 23 and 24.

Categories: Sports