BOONE, N.C. -- Appalachian State volleyball dropped a 3-2 (16-25, 24-26, 25-16, 25-11, 16-14) contest to Sun Belt West Division leader Texas State on Sunday afternoon.
App State (9-14, 5-5 SBC) used an early 3-0 run in the first set to take a 12-10 lead. Leading 14-13, the Mountaineers went on a 8-1 run to take a 22-14 lead and went on to win the frame 25-16.
App State opened a 21-16 lead late in the second set, before Texas State (18-7, 10-1 SBC) scored four straight points to trim the Black and Gold lead to 21-20. The Mountaineers won the next two points, but the Bobcats came right back with four of the next five points to knot the score at 24-24. App State came right back with a kill from
Emma Longley and block assists from
Amya Giger and
Anna Kincaid to clinch the set 26-24 and take a 2-0 lead.
The Bobcats won the third set 25-16 thanks to a 12-3 run in the middle of the frame and took control of the fourth stanza early to force a fifth and deciding set by a 25-11 count.
In the fifth set, a kill from Longley and block assists by
Kara Spicer and Longley tied the score at 4-4 in the early going. Texas State scored the next three points and opened a 10-7 advantage, before three straight Black and Gold points tied the score at 10-10. The Bobcats won the next point before a service error and service ace from
Sammy Luscher gave App State an 12-11 lead. The teams exchanged the next few points and a kill from Longley gave the Mountaineers a match point at 14-13. From there, Texas State used a kill and a pair of Mountaineer attack errors to clinch the set 16-14 and 3-2 victory.
Longley paced the Mountaineers with 16 kills and also moved into ninth-place in program history in kills during the contest, totaling the 1,223rd of her career.
Grace Morrison had eight kills and seven total blocks (three solo, four assists) and Spicer chipped in with seven kills.
Luscher finished with a team-high 20 assists to go along with five digs.
Sam Bickley had 18 assists and five digs.
Emma Reilly finished with with a match-high 17 digs and
Sydney Farthing tallied nine.
The Mountaineers will hit the road for four consecutive Sun Belt East Division matches, beginning on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Troy.
