SAN MARCOS – Winning the Sun Belt felt so nice that the Texas State Bobcats decided to do it twice.
With a 3-1 win over No. 2 Coastal Carolina in the Sun Belt tournament finals, the No. 1 Bobcats won a second consecutive conference championship and earned a spot in the NCAA tournament. The Bobcats hosted the tournament in San Marcos and played the finals in front of the third most fans in program history, 3,040.
In her 40th year as the head volleyball coach at Texas State, this is Karen Chisum’s 11th conference tournament championship in three leagues, third in the Sun Belt including 2013 and 2018. Her other eight were in the Gulf Star in 1986 and the Southland in 1991, 1998, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011. She also has nine regular season championships – 1986, 1991, 2000, 2003,2004, 2008, 2011, 2018 and 2019.
Earlier this season, she became the fifth coach across all NCAA programs to ever reach 900 wins with the same school.
“It was a gutsy performance by the Bobcats,” Chisum said. “It was up, down, up, down but they stayed together and they fought. (Senior outside hitter Cheyenne Huskey) is the leader of this pack. I can’t be anymore excited for a group of young ladies, particularly this group of seniors with Cheyenne leading them. Hats off to Coastal. They were tough, they are good but the Bobcats prevailed and I’m very proud of this group.”
Texas State jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the first set but Coastal kept it close, eventually tying the game at 10. The two sides went back and forth before Texas State started to separate itself thanks to six kills and two aces by Huskey in the set.
Down 24-17 and facing set point, Coastal went on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 24 before the Bobcats scored the next two, winning the first set, 26-24.
Coastal Carolina jumped ahead early in the second set and didn’t look back, taking it, 25-19, with only one lead change. They jumped ahead early in the third set as well, but the Bobcats were able to take the lead about halfway through, 13-12. After three lead changes and seven ties, the Bobcats finally took the third set on a kill from Huskey, 25-20.
After allowing one early lead change, the Bobcats controlled most of the fourth set, winning it 25-18 and repeating as conference champions with a 3-1 match win.
“At the beginning of the season, that was our goal: to repeat what we did last year and hopefully go further,” Huskey said. “It’s an amazing feeling.”
Huskey was named the Sun Belt volleyball tournament most outstanding performer after she finished with 17 kills, four blocks, three aces and eight digs in the finals. A senior, Huskey is in her second year with the Bobcats after transferring from Florida. Since arriving, she has led the Bobcats to two conference championships.
“There is no doubt about it, (Huskey) has helped us get to this level,” Chisum said. “We were pretty good and consistent but when she came to us last year with the openness that she gave to us. We moved her from setter to that outside position and it was a big adjustment for her. She’s meant a lot to us and is a key reason that we have made the big jump that we have.”
Sophomore setter Emily DeWalt, back-to-back Sun Belt setter of the year, finished the game with 41 assists, five digs and two aces. DeWalt was also named to the all-tournament team along with Huskey.
The Bobcats will know their next game after the women’s volleyball championship selection show on ESPN next Sunday, Dec. 1. Texas State beat Rice in the first round of the NCAA tournament last season, 3-1, before being swept by Texas in the second round, 3-0.
