Texas State won its regular season finale Friday night, sweeping UT Arlington, 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-11) to claim the outright Sun Belt championship for the second year in a row.
But before the match even began, the Bobcats were waged in a different type of battle.
At 9:30 p.m. Thursday night, Texas State graduate assistant coach Michelle Maxwell unlocked the doors to Strahan Arena, letting in the Bobcats’ four seniors — defensive specialists Micah Dinwiddie and Konner Wood, setter Rylie Fuentes and outside hitter Cheyenne Huskey.
The seniors crept upstairs to the coaches offices, armed with loads of toilet paper.
“Single ply. The cheap stuff,” Wood said. “Dead silent, no one in here. And we went to work. It was a lot of fun.”
The next day, head coach Karen Chisum and assistant coaches Tracy Smith, Sean Huiet and Chris Valdez found rolls of tissue unspooled all across their work space with a single note left on Chisum’s desk: “Love you, the Seniors.”
“Despite what everybody thought, it wasn't actually my idea,” Wood said. “Everyone thought that it was my idea but Micah came up with it. And I said, 'I mean, I'm in.' I'm all for a good prank.”
“I thought it was (Wood),” Chisum said. “We reciprocated. The coaches got them back, trust me.”
Prior to the players arriving to suit up for the match, the coaches collected all of the seniors’ gear out of their lockers, mixed it up in a single pile, then dropped it off in the restroom. The seniors had a hard time deciding which clothing was theirs.
“I could be wearing Micah's knee pad,” Wood said. “Who knows? We'll never know.”
The team ended the prank wars and came back together for the final game of the season. Chisum started all four upperclassmen, who led the Texas State to its third-straight victory.
Fuentes dished out two assists, tied for second-most on the team behind sophomore setter Emily DeWalt’s 38. Huskey scored a team-high 19 kills. Dinwiddie and Wood combined for 20 digs and became the winningest student-athletes in program history, collecting 95 wins over their four years in San Marcos.
“What a great group and talent. You know, it's not just good people, they're very talented,” Chisum said. “Extremely proud of them. I'm glad to have Riley Fuentes, joined us this year. Although she's only been here one year (after transferring from Texas A&M-Commerce), she contributed. She's done a great job and, of course, you know what Cheyenne does for us. Micah, Konner, I mean, it's a great group of young ladies.”
The seniors described the night as bittersweet. The Bobcats’ regular season is over, but they’ll have more games to play inside Strahan Arena. As the outright champions, Texas State will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament, which the team is hosting this year.
“I mean, (winning titles is) something that I wanted since I committed here. I wanted four,” Dinwiddie said. “But since that didn't happen, getting it two years in a row I mean, that's some pretty cool things to say to my kids.”
“It means a lot to us,” Wood said. “We wanted to do it again, we didn't want all the seniors last year to get all of the recognition, we wanted to have it again. And it's just, winning's contagious. And I hope that the seniors next year carry it on and throughout the next classes.”
The Sun Belt Volleyball Championship begins on Thursday, Nov. 21. Chisum is a little worried about the extended time off for her players, but knows they’re hungry to earn another automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
“I love it. I'm so extremely pleased with this group," Chisum said. “These guys are believers. They have the confidence, but it's not easy. I mean, we're gonna lose a couple ball games as you know, but we always talk about 'That may be the outcome but what's our response?' We've got to respond to positives and negatives. And I think the maturity with — I know some people don't think they're mature — but they can be mature. So, extremely proud of them.”
