MIAMI, Fla. (11/17/11) – The Arkansas State volleyball team was eliminated from the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Thursday afternoon with a 20-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-22 loss to North Texas.

A-State (21-10) jumped out to an early lead in the first set and carried the momentum to a 25-20 victory, but struggled over the next three sets as the Mean Green (17-16) advanced to Friday’s semifinal match against Middle Tennessee.

In the first set ASU had strong attacking game led by Jasmine Terry and built a 20-14 lead. Terry had six of her 14 kills in the set to help the Red Wolves hit for a .294 hitting percentage. ASU pushed the lead to 23-16, but North Texas rallied to pull within 23-19 and forced Ingram to take a timeout.

North Texas scored the first point coming out of the timeout, but Taylor Szypulski pushed the lead to 24-20 with a kill and Allison Kearney put the set away with a service ace to give ASU a 25-20 first set victory.

ASU struggled in the second set and managed just a .163 hitting percentage. North Texas, meanwhile, hit for a .375 percentage and tied the match with a 25-20 victory.

In the third set North Texas quickly built a 15-8 advantage that was too much for A-State to overcome. Cayla Fielder helped spark an A-State rally that closed the gap to 20-19, but the Mean Green scored five of the set’s final seven points to take the 25-22 victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.

In the fourth set ASU rebounded with a .405 hitting percentage, but North Texas was also impressive with a .390 percentage, but the Red Wolves failed to convert on key opportunities and ended the set and match with a 25-22 loss.

ASU finished the match with a .264 hitting percentage, but also had 22 attacking errors and 12 service errors. Szypulski led A-State with a match-high 18 kills, while Cayla Fielder added 16 kills. Allison Kearney finished with 47 assists and 22 digs, while Megan Baska had 15 digs and 10 assists.