Texas State heads to Omaha for NCAA tournament

Defeating No. 11 Baylor was a huge win for Texas State in their final match before the NCAA Tournament. But the Bobcats knew they still had a long road ahead of them. So, what were they doing the next day? 

They were back in the gym practicing.

“It was great,” junior setter Emily DeWalt said. “You take it for the night, you win and when you wake up the next morning, you feel good. But we got in the gym the next day and we practiced and we went hard. We have more in front of us to tackle.”

It’s been a long season for the Bobcats, physically and mentally. They’ve had to deal with COVID-19, a winter storm and gameplay that extended into the spring — all on top of being college students. The opponents they’ve faced during the second half of the year have been some of the toughest, including high-ranked Texas and Baylor. It’s out of the ordinary for Texas State, let alone having matches in the spring.

They had struggles during the matches against the Big 12 schools, and it resulted in a five-match losing streak, which is something the Bobcats aren’t used to. However, they turned it around during their last three games of the season and earned some wins. 

Despite the hardships they’ve had to face, Texas State isn’t letting the rough times get to them. Senior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott believes it’s made the team even closer.

“It does feel different with COVID going on, getting tested every week, the snowstorm and just different factors that have affected us this year,” Scott said. “But, that’s what makes us work harder, just beating adversity … It has been hard physically and mentally, but I feel like it made our chemistry as a team is so much stronger and we really just lean on each other.”

After finishing the spring season, Texas State sits at a record of 30-8 overall — the most wins in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball. However, the journey continues and the Bobcats will be playing Utah Valley in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 

Considering the intensity of the spring schedule, head coach Sean Huiet believes his team is prepared for the big dance.

“I think we put that schedule in front of our kids to get them ready for the hard,” Huiet said. “Knowing there was that stretch there where we played a lot of Big 12 teams like back-to-back and, you know, just a couple days rest, but that’s what we’re gonna have to do here at the tournament … I mean, these kids have been through it all and you still see them out here battling and so I think it’s really prepared them.”

Utah Valley is coming off a historic season, as this is their first appearance in the NCAA tournament in program history. 

The Wolverines punched their ticket utilizing a strong offense that averaged 12.64 kills per set to win the Western Athletic Conference tournament, sweeping top-seeded New Mexico State. UVU is led by junior outside hitter Kazna Tanuvasa, who averaged 3.61 kills per frame and was named the WAC Player of the Year.

“Utah Valley is very good,” Huiet said. “They won the WAC, they got to host the conference tournament and they’re a very high energy team. They’re very big and they run a six-two, so they’re going to have offense. We’re going to really have to rely on our serve to get them out of system a little bit. They have an outside that was the WAC Player of the Year, and so we kind of know what they’re going to do offensively. We’re going to try to disrupt them with our serve and our defense, and then we’re going to play our style volleyball.”

With COVID-19, the tournament is running a bit different than previous years. Like the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, this one will be played inside a bubble. It has also been announced that the teams won’t have access to a locker room until the Elite Eight, which sparked controversy across social media. 

Texas State had similar conditions during the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and they knew everything was going to be different this year. None of it is too concerning for the Bobcats, though, because they still have one goal in mind.

“I feel like we’ve dealt with adversity this whole season,” Scott said. “It’s just more to add to it and we just have to get over that and still remain the same team and still go hard no matter what the circumstances are.”

The Bobcats will play Utah Valley in the first round of the tournament on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Neb. The match will be available to watch on ESPN3.

In 2018, Texas State advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history when they beat Rice. The Bobcats want to make history again, but their goal throughout this entire season has been the Sweet 16. 

DeWalt is confident that her team can make history once again. 

“My group when we came in my freshman year, we beat the first round for the first time in school history, and so I know we would love to make history again by taking it even further into the Sweet 16. I know this team can do amazing things when we put our minds to it, so to see how much further we can go would be great.”

The teams will face off in the first round Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. The match will be broadcasted on ESPN3.