Texas State earns pair of wins, DeWalt named Setter of the Week

Texas State won a pair of Sun Belt matches over the weekend and also claimed its fourth conference weekly award on Tuesday.

The Bobcats began its weekend slate with a rematch of the 2020 Sun Belt tournament final, hosting Coastal Carolina (15-5, 9-1 conference) on Friday inside Strahan Arena. The maroon and gold pulled came away with the same result, defeating the Chanticleers in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-19) sweep.

Junior middle blocker Tessa Marshall posted game-highs with both 11 kills and three blocks in the match. Graduate outside hitter Jada Gardner came up a dig short of a double-double with 10 kills and nine digs. Senior defensive specialist Kayla Granado added another 11 digs and senior setter Emily DeWalt finished the match with 31 assists.

“That was a great win,” head coach Sean Huiet said in a statement. “I'm so proud of our kids for how aggressive they played (from) start to finish. You continue to see them gain confidence and play at a high level, which at this time of our season, is awesome to see … Tessa (Marshall) had a great week of practice and it really showed tonight as she led us offensively and defensively.”

The team went on to take another home win over Appalachian State (7-15, 3-7) on Saturday, 3-1 (26-24, 25-16, 24-26, 25-21). The victory was Texas State’s sixth straight — the longest active streak in the Sun Belt.

Three different Bobcats finished with double-digit kills: Gardner with 20, senior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald with 15 and junior outside hitter Caitlyn Buettner with 14. DeWalt set a season-high 52 assists and Granado dug out a team-high 16 balls.

For her efforts, DeWalt was named Sun Belt Setter of the Week for the second week in a row, averaging 11.86 assists per frame. It’s the 16th time the Helotes native has received the award in her career.

“I am glad we got the win (Saturday), but we talked in the locker room after the match about how we need to continue getting better every match,” Huiet stated. “It's always scary after a big emotional win, how they will come out the next day. I thought we battled and found a way to win when it wasn't our best product. Kudos to App State and especially Emma Reilly, who made us work for every point. They played relentless defense and put the pressure on us. I thought everyone did a good job getting us big swings, even when we were out of system. Jada played extremely well offensively tonight.

“It's good to see Emily getting some kudos for how she has been playing. She has helped our offense get back on track, which has allowed us to play at a high level over the last few weeks.”

The Bobcats (12-11, 8-2) will look to extend their winning streak this week, traveling to play Georgia Southern (13-7, 6-5) on Friday and Georgia State (5-15, 2-8) on Saturday, both games starting at 5 p.m.