Texas State hoping for three-peat of Sun Belt title this weekend

Sean Huiet wasn't surprised when Texas State fell behind by two sets at Arkansas State on Saturday.

The Bobcats were coming off a pair of sweeps over the Red Wolves on Friday, but Huiet knew how talented Arkansas State was. He truthfully thought Friday’s matches were going to be  closer.

So when the Red Wolves went up 2-0 in Saturday’s match, Huiet was a little glad to see his team get tested. It was the first time Texas State had dropped two sets in nearly a month, the last time coming in a 3-2 victory over No. 15 Louisiana on Oct. 16.

The maroon and gold surged in the final three sets to take the 3-2 victory over Arkansas State and extend the team’s winning streak to 16-straight.

“We like to be challenged, especially at this point this season,” Huiet said. “If we're just cruising through things and we're not ready when someone does take a set off of us, it kind of freaks you out. But this team really believes we're going to win no matter if we're  up 2-0 or whether we're down 2-0. They just believe they're going to win and so I loved that challenge this late in the season.”

The win moved the Bobcats up to No. 11 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-15 Poll and put them in position to three-peat as Sun Belt regular season champions this weekend as both Texas State and Coastal Carolina are undefeated this year.

To secure a third consecutive title, the maroon and gold need two more wins, both matches coming against UT Arlington. The Bobcats swept the Mavericks 3-0 in both their first two meeting on Oct. 30 and 31, but they’re not an easy team to prepare for.

Huiet said UTA mixes its pins, meaning its outside and right side hitters can play a little bit of everything and there’s rarely a set rotation. The Mavericks are also a young team that does some out-of-the-ordinary things that makes the head coach a bit nervous.

“I just told the team, (UTA’s) goal is to come in here and try to ruin our season,” Huiet said. “And so that puts a little more pressure on us. You know, we moved up the rankings a little bit, we've kind of locked in the No. 1 seed but we're playing for the regular season title this weekend and so we're playing for a little bit more.”

Still, Huiet’s kept things light in practice, hoping to keep his players fresh and focused as it heads into this weekend’s series.

Texas State (19-1, 14-0 Sun Belt) hosts the Mavericks (9-5, 9-5) inside Strahan Arena at 6 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday with a third-straight championship in reach.

“We just talked about how we've worked this hard, we're playing for three-peat this weekend,” Huiet said. “We don't want to work this hard and get this far to have a loss this weekend, do something we don't want to do.”