Despite an early loss, Bobcat volleyball came back to San Marcos with a second-place title, a name in the NCAA record books and an honorary tournament title over the weekend.
The Texas State volleyball team went 2-1 and took home second place in College Station at the Texas A&M Invitational on Friday, sweeping their final matchup against Northwestern to put head coach Karen Chisum at 900 career wins.
Chisum became the 7th coach in NCAA Division I history to reach 900 career victories with the dominating sweep over the Northwestern Lady Devils. Chisum made this record all at Texas State, putting her in elite company as the fifth coach in NCAA history to hit this mark at one program.
The decisive 3-0 win (25-21, 25-21, 25-15) brought the ‘Cats back up to an even 5-5 record after taking some hits in their tough schedule earlier this season.
The Bobcats kept their momentum going from their comeback victory earlier in the day against the University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley into their first set, jumping out to an early 10-6 lead. Northwestern would temporarily rally back and brought the match within two points, but would fail to hold on as Texas State pumped out six consecutive points to take the set 25-21.
The second set started out as a different story, with the Lady Devils taking a lead and running with it to 14-9.
However, their luck ran out as the Bobcats came back with a vengeance, hitting their stride to tie up the set at 19-19.
Texas State wouldn’t let the Devils regroup and took the set 25-20.
The third set opened up with seven lead changes and ended up tied at 9-9 until Texas State would go on a 5-0 scoring run to take a commanding 14-9 lead. Northwestern fought frantically to stay alive but just couldn’t find the floor, only scoring 6 more points as the Bobcats would earn their coach her 900th victory with a match-best 25-15 win for the set and match.
Texas State dominated Northwestern in their second sweep of the season off of the strength of senior Cheyenne Huskey, who took the board in her second double-double of the day with 16 kills, 10 digs and two aces. Huskey’s impressive stats were enough to put her on the Texas A&M Invitational All-Tournament Team for her second tournament selection of the season.
The team matched their season-high of 49 kills and hit .256 in the sweep, more than double that of Northwestern. The team also nearly doubled the Devils with 46 assists to NSU’s 27, with sophomore Emily DeWalt taking more assists than Northwestern’s whole team at 39 successful sets.
The Bobcat win came off the heat from a comeback 3-1 victory earlier that afternoon over the UTSA Vaqueros (14-25, 25-20, 25-10, 25-20).
The first set started out with a tough 10-10 standoff before UTRGV took it away in a devastating 9-0 run. Freshman Caitlan Buettner successfully sliced through the streak with a kill, but UTRGV was unfazed and finished the set 25-14.
The second set upheaved the Vaqueros, but not without tumultuous efforts. After a bitter early start with three lead changes, Texas State would reclaim the lead for good at 17-16 and finish the rest of the set 8-4, winning 25-20 and tying the match at 1-1.
In the third set the Bobcats dominated the court, taking the lead 5-1 and biting back at the Vaquero’s attempts to rally by forcing UTRGV errors. Texas State’s defense and attacks were in harmony as they cruised to an easy 25-10 victory.
In the fourth and final set the Vaqueros would not go down easy and jumped out to an early lead. Texas State would eventually tie the set at 11-11 but UTRGV stayed competitive with the ‘Cats for a bumpy four lead changes. The Bobcats would retake the lead at 20-19 and not look back, winning the set 25-20 and the match 3-1 in a true comeback fashion.
Huskey earned her 10th double-double of the season with 16 kills and 13 digs. She also served up two aces along with four other Bobcats, including senior Rylie Fuentes, senior Micah Dinwiddie, DeWalt and sophomore Jillian Slaughter.
The set of victories came after an intense up-and-down 3-1 loss to the host Aggies on Thursday (11-25, 25-19, 21-25, 20-25).
The first set wasn’t meant to be for the ‘Cats, who only put 11 points past the Aggie defense. A&M started and finished strong with a kill to open and close the set, earning 12 of their 46 match kills in the first set.
The second set was a total turnaround for Texas State as they jumped out to a 7-1 lead after drawing five attack errors from the Aggies. While the set was a back and forth affair after the first 8 points, the Bobcats never let the Aggies eclipse their lead and came out on top this time in a clear 25-19 set win.
The next two sets were nail biters all the way to the end with A&M unfortunately claiming victory in both, 25-21 and 25-20 respectively.
A&M’s defense proved too strong for the ‘Cats as they finished with 13 blocks and 51 digs. Texas State finished with 9 blocks and 43 digs respectively.
Texas State will look to take on a winning record as they go head-to-head with I-45 rivals University of Texas-San Antonio to kick off the annual Creeds and Crests Classic tournament at Strahan Arena on Thursday.