Editor’s Note: From May 25-29 and May 31-June 5, The University Star’s sports staff will break down its Top 10 moments in Texas State sports from this past school year.
For the second year in a row, Texas State volleyball clinched a ticket to the NCAA Tournament after winning both the Sun Belt regular-season and tournament championships in Nov. 2019.
As tournament hosts, the Bobcats were able to win the Sun Belt Conference Championship on their own turf for the first time.
After sweeping Troy (25-14, 25-14, 25-18) in the semifinals, they beat Coastal Carolina 3-1 (26-24, 19-25, 25-21, 25-18) in front of the third-largest crowd in program history to take the tournament championship for the second consecutive year.
The final victory against Coastal Carolina was a redemption win after the Chanticleers defeated Texas State in the Sun Belt Tournament finals in 2017.
The game also marked former Head Coach Karen Chisum’s final match at Strahan Coliseum. Chisum, who was the seventh NCAA volleyball coach in history to reach 900 wins, was Texas State’s head volleyball coach for 40 years and said she is still a Bobcat “through and through”.
“To me, there is no greater place than Texas State University,” Chisum said.
Once they landed the Sun Belt Championship trophy, the Bobcats were ranked No. 31 in the nation and faced No. 32 UC Santa Barbara for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The game was up the road at the University of Texas—the same site where the Bobcats defeated Rice and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history a year earlier.
Despite being a slim favorite, the Bobcats were unable to take home their second consecutive NCAA championship win and fell 3-1 to UC Santa Barbara (21-25, 21-25, 25-20, 14-25) on Dec. 5, 2019.
The team received four All-Sun Belt postseason awards and two specialty awards, with senior outside hitter Cheyenne Huskey and sophomore setter Emily DeWalt named to the All-Sun Belt first team, junior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott and sophomore outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald given All-Sun Belt Second Team honors and Chisum named the Sun Belt Coach of the Year. DeWalt was also given the Sun Belt Setter of the Year title.
Texas State closed their season with a 24-9 overall and 14-2 conference record, another year as the No. 1 Sun Belt team and a new coach, former Associate Head Coach Sean Huiet.