Women’s Volleyball Season Recap

By, Lisette Lopez

The Texas State women’s volleyball team finished its season at third in the Sun Belt Conference.

The Bobcats were second in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference behind Arkansas State, who was second in the conference.

The Bobcats also had a nine-game win streak in the beginning of the season. The team only lost three conference games this season against Coastal Carolina, Little Rock and Arkansas State.

Texas State hosted the Chanticleers, and lost in the annual Pink Out Game. In the game against Coastal Carolina, the Chanticleers came out on top with a score of 3.

The last two games the Bobcats lost were in Arkansas.

In the game against Little Rock, the Bobcats lost 1-3. The Trojans were able to put Texas State’s winning streak to an end in this match. The last match played between these two teams took place in San Marcos, with the Bobcats sweeping Little Rock 3-0.

The last match lost was against the reigning champions, Arkansas State. Texas State was able to put an upset against the Red Wolves earlier in the season winning 3-1, however, the Bobcats were not able to put a stop to the losing streak.

The Bobcats lost to the Red Wolves 3-0. This was the last game of the conference where Texas State would lose a match.

Texas State was able to make it into the Sun Belt Conference Championships and was the No. 3 seed in the tournament.

First up was the quarterfinal game against South Alabama, the No. 6 seed. The Bobcats upset the Jaguars sweeping the match 3-0.

Texas State advanced to the semifinal game where they would play the No. 2 seed, Coastal Carolina.

In the semifinal, the Chanticleers upset the Bobcats and eliminated Texas State from the championship tournament with a score of 3-1.

Texas State finished its season second in the West Division of the Sun Belt Conference.

They ended the season with a 21-12 overall record, and a 13-3 conference record.

The Bobcats were the No. 3 seed in the Sun Belt Conference Championships. With achieving high rankings as a team, some individuals stood out this season.

Right before the championships, three Bobcats landed All-Sun Belt Conference honors.

Kelsey Weynand, a senior outside hitter, was named to the 2016 All-SBC First Team. Along with Weynand, Erin Hoppe, a junior setter, and Lauren Kirch, senior middle blocker, were named to the 2016 All-SBC Second Team.

At the end of the championships, Jaliyah Bolden, junior middle blocker, was named to the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Championship All-Tournament team.

Bolden helped her team in the tournament with having 37 kills and just eight errors on 68 swings for a .426 attack percentage.

In the semifinal game against Coastal Carolina, Bolden had a match-high of 21 kills on a .425 attack percentage.

Micah Dinwiddie, a freshman libero, helped lead her team to the championship tournament, and also made an impression in the division.

For four weeks in a row, Dinwiddie was named the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Week.

Dinwiddie had a career high of 35 digs per game against UT-Arlington in the regular season. In the quarterfinal match against South Alabama, Dinwiddie had 11 digs per game and helped her team get to the semifinal round.

Before the season ended, Head Coach Karen Chisum announced the early signing of three student-athletes.

Three new additions to the Bobcat team will include setter Brooke Johnson and middle blockers Tyeranee Scott and Effie Zielinski.

These new Bobcats will bring something fresh to the team and will start their Bobcat career in the coming 2017 season.