Texas State inches closer to Sun Belt crown after sweep of UTA

No. 11 Texas State got one step closer to earning its third-straight conference title, but head coach Sean Huiet felt there was a lot to be desired with the Bobcats’ performance.

Junior setter Emily DeWalt’s passes were occasionally a split second early. Other times, the maroon and gold hitters were a beat late connecting with the ball. Texas State still took a 3-0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-17) sweep over UT Arlington inside Strahan Arena on Friday — it just wasn’t in championship fashion.

“I thought we were a little sluggish tonight,” Huiet said. “We talk a lot about working hard off the ball and that's doing all the stuff when you're not touching the ball. And I just thought we weren't really in tune with all that. We were kind of lazy at times, kind of just going through the motions. And championship teams don't do that.”

The Bobcats were without starting senior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott, which may have thrown the team out of sync a bit. Huiet said the excitement of playing for another title probably factored into the sloppy play.

Texas State’s mistakes began to catch up to the team in the second set. The two squads went back and forth early in the frame, remaining tied at 16-16. The hosts finally strung a few plays together to earn a 20-17 lead but the Mavericks used a 4-0 run to jump back in front, forcing Huiet to call timeout.

“I think it was definitely self-inflicted,” junior libero Kayla Granado said. “We were making silly mistakes, hitting balls out that we shouldn't. And we just needed to focus back in and do our job.”

“I think one thing that really separates us from other teams is we go on a lot of serving runs,” redshirt sophomore outside hitter Lauren Teske said. “And so in that second set, we were struggling with going on serving runs, we were kind of trading off with them. And so I think that's what the difference was.”

The Bobcats pulled it together out of the break, though. DeWalt set up sophomore middle blocker Tessa Marshall to knock down the final point of the set to claim a 25-22 victory.

Texas State carried the momentum of winning the tight game into the final set, claiming the frame 25-17 to complete the sweep over UTA.

“I thought we kind of gave them a wake-up call in between sets two and three and I thought they rose to the challenge there,” Huiet said. “I can't say enough for how we rebounded, we kind of felt a lot better in set three, getting into a rhythm because we talked about how we want to be playing our best volleyball going into next weekend. And so I can't say enough about Tessa Marshall stepping in tonight and having a great night. And so I think we're playing well, we just had a little bit of a slow start and I'm glad that we got the win in three.”

Junior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald led the Bobcats with 13 kills, followed by Teske with eight. DeWalt posted a double-double-with 42 assists and 10 digs. Granado dug out a team-high 16 balls.

Texas State (20-1, 14-0 Sun Belt) will play in its regular season finale on Saturday when it hosts the Mavericks (9-5, 9-5) again at 1 p.m. A win clinches a share of the Sun Belt championship for the Bobcats along with No. 15 Coastal Carolina.

Huiet is expecting a better performance out of his team. But the players are expecting it out of themselves, too.

“I think we're just really confident in our ability,” Granado said. “And we've been saying the past few weeks to focus on ourselves and our side of the court and the rest will follow.”

“I think for us, since (Granado and I have) been here every year, we don't know anything else (other than winning championships),” Teske said. “And so, there's no choice. We have to win the ring and that's our mentality. We're not gonna let anything knock us off our rocker, like, we're gonna do whatever we can to win a ring because we don't know different.”