MATCH 31: Little Rock vs. Texas State
Time / Date	4 p.m. / Saturday, November 17
Location	Atlanta, Ga.
Arena	GSU Sports Arena
Live Stats	Statbroadcast
Video ($)	ESPN+
Audio	None
Match Notes	Texas State
Series History	TXST leads 8-5

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State volleyball team is set for the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Championship. The annual postseason event will be held Nov. 15-18 inside GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, with Georgia State serving as tournament hosts.

The Bobcats (24-6, 15-1) are the No. 1 overall seed and have earned a double bye. They won't begin play until the semifinals at 4 p.m. CST Nov. 17.

TXST will face either No. 4 Little Rock, No. 5 UT Arlington or No. 8 Troy. The Mavericks and Troy will meet in the first round. The winner advances to face Little Rock for the right to take on the Bobcats.

Every match in the tournament will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Matt Stewart and Lizzy Stemke on the call.

The Bobcats enter the weekend with an NCAA RPI of No. 26. Appalachian State is the second-highest Sun Belt school at No. 97. The maroon and gold is ranked No. 17 in the most-recent iteration of the VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll.

TXST recently completed the month of October 9-0, marking the fifth time in school history that the maroon and gold went 9-0 or better in a month.

AMERICA'S LONGEST-TENURED STAFF
•    The Texas State full-time coaching staff consists of head coach Karen Chisum, associate head coach Tracy Smith and assistant coach Sean Huiet.
•    The trio has been at Texas State for a combined 69 years (39/17/13), a mark which is by far the highest in the nation for any coaching staff. The next closest is Bryant at just 52 years, while St. John's and Northern Iowa are tied for third at 49 cumulative seasons.

A LOOK AT TEXAS STATE
•    Texas State concluded the regular season with a 24-6 overall record and a 15-1 mark in the Sun Belt Conference.
•    TXST recently wrapped up a 17-match win streak, which was the longest since 2000 and third-longest in school history.
•    Texas State also had a 10-match win streak last year. This marked the first time in history that the maroon and gold has posted double-digit win streaks in back-to-back campaigns.
•    The 11 road wins are tied with Stephen F. Austin for most in the nation, while the 24 wins overall are tied for seventh-most in the NCAA.
•    Statistically, TXST leads the Sun Belt in most wins overall (24), home wins (11), road wins (11), longest win streak (17), attack percentage (.264), assists per set (13.38) and kills per set (14.05).
•    Individually, Emily DeWalt leads the Sun Belt in double-doubles (19), while ranking third in assists (10.27) and ninth in aces (0.28). Madison Daigle is fourth in hitting percentage (.356) and sixth in blocks (1.09), Cheyenne Huskey is sixth in kills (2.97), Janell Fitzgerald is seventh in kills (2.96), Amy Pflughaupt is eighth in kills (2.92), and Micah Dinwiddie is ninth in digs (3.70).
•    Texas State's strength of schedule is currently ranked No. 39 in the nation. The next closest Sun Belt school is Coastal Carolina at No. 107, while Little Rock is third at No. 115.
•    Coach Karen Chisum has now led Texas State to 31 winning seasons in her 39 years at the helm. She has also now coached 25 different teams to at least 20 wins.

BATTLE TESTED
•    Four of Texas State's six setbacks this season have come against teams who have been ranked all season long in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 Poll (Texas, Kentucky, Marquette, Baylor).
•    The fifth loss was to an LSU program that was receiving votes in the national poll.
•    In 135 total non-conference matches, the rest of the Sun Belt Conference combined for just six against ranked opponents all season (Georgia Southern vs. Minnesota / Arkansas State vs. Creighton / Louisiana vs. USC and San Diego / South Alabama vs. Purdue and Alabama).
•    The Bobcats own a win over Arizona State, who was ranked No. 25 in the nation recently. They have also defeated James Madison, who was ranked No. 13 in the VolleyballMag.com Mid-Major Poll, and Rice, who was No. 15 in the same poll.
•    Texas State competed against five opponents who hail from a Power 5 Conference (Big 12, Big Ten, ACC, SEC, Pac-12) during the non-conference portion of the season. That mark is also the highest of any Sun Belt school.

THE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
•    The 2018 Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship will be conducted Nov. 15-18 inside GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta.
•    TXST finished 15-1 in league play and won the Sun Belt Regular Season Championship. This marked the first conference regular season title for the Bobcats since the won the 2011 Southland Conference crown.
•    The Bobcats will be the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Championship tournament.
•    Texas State and App won their respective divisions and earned double byes into the semifinals of the postseason tournament on Nov. 17.
•    Coastal Carolina and Little Rock are the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds, respectively, and will begin play in the quarterfinals on Nov. 16.
•    The field is rounded out by UT Arlington (No. 5), Arkansas State (No. 6), South Alabama (No. 7) and Troy (No. 8). Those four will all compete Nov. 15.
•    Louisiana, ULM, Georgia State, and Georgia Southern did not qualify for the postseason.

THE LAST TIME OUT
•    Texas State capped the regular season with a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-21, 25-13) over UT Arlington on Nov. 9 inside College Park Center.
•    The Bobcats spoiled a second-straight Senior Day on the road.
•    Janell Fitzgerald returned from a brief two-match hiatus to dominate for the Bobcats. She dazzled with career highs in both kills (19) and attack percentage (.692), finishing with just one error on 26 swings. Madison Daigle compiled 11 kills and no errors on 20 swings for a .550 hitting clip. Emily DeWalt recorded her Sun Belt-leading 19th double-double with 36 assists and 12 digs, while Micah Dinwiddie tallied 15 digs and nine assists.
•    Texas State led in kills (48-34), hitting percentage (.367-.139), assists (46-34), digs (51-47), and blocks (6-3). UTA led in aces (4-3).
•    UTA still leads the all-time series 41-39, but Texas State has won 27 of the last 34 meetings. The Bobcats have also captured 18 of the last 20 contests, which includes each of the last eight.

TEXAS STATE DOMINATES POSTSEASON ACCOLADES
•    Texas State dominated the 2018 Sun Belt Conference postseason awards, the league announced Nov. 13.
•    For the second year in a row, the Bobcats led the conference with four first-team selections, five overall selections and three specialty award winners. The number of first-team honorees and specialty award winners tied school records set last season, while the collective number of laurels was one shy of the all-time mark.
•    Senior Madison Daigle, junior Cheyenne Huskey and freshmen Janell Fitzgerald and Emily DeWalt were all named to the 2018 All-Sun Belt First Team. Senior Amy Pflughaupt was selected to the 2018 All-Sun Belt Second Team.
•    DeWalt was named both the 2018 Sun Belt Setter and Sun Belt Freshman of the Year. She became the first rookie in conference history to win both laurels. Karen Chisum was named the 2018 Sun Belt Coach of the Year.
•    DeWalt joins Pflughaupt (2017 Newcomer of the Year), junior Micah Dinwiddie (2017 Defensive Player of the Year) and former greats Erin Hoppe (2017 Setter of the Year) and Jordan Kohl (2014 Freshman of the Year) as the five specialty award winners for TXST since the maroon and gold joined the Sun Belt in 2013.
•    Chisum earned her sixth coach of the year accolade and first in the Sun Belt.

TXST CROWDS BLOW AWAY SUN BELT
•    Texas State's attendance numbers have completely dwarfed the rest of the Sun Belt Conference this season.
•    The Bobcats have played in front of 1,000 fans on 12 occasions (nine at home, three on the road). The rest of the league has combined - in matches not in San Marcos - for just seven. Six of those matches (three for Coastal Carolina, one each for Georgia Southern and Louisiana) were on the road. Troy hosted South Alabama on Oct. 31 in front of 1,263 fans, marking the only home Sun Belt crowd in double figures that did not feature Texas State.
•    TXST's average attendance is currently 1,255, and the total attendance is 15,061. The average is a new school record, and the total number is second-most in a single season in school history.
•    Neither Georgia State nor Little Rock has even seen 1,000 fans this season.
•    Appalachian State, Arkansas State, UT Arlington, and ULM have each only seen 1,000 fans once, and all of those came at Texas State. The largest crowd LR has played in front of (943) also came in San Marcos.
•    The Bobcats have led the conference in attendance each of the last five years.

THE BEST IS IN THE WEST
•    The Sun Belt West Division reigned supreme over the East Division this year.
•    Five of the six teams from the West have at least 15 wins and a .500 record, and every team has at least 11 victories.
•    Appalachian State (21-7) is the only team from the East with at least 14 victories or a winning record.
•    The combined winning percentage from the West is currently .575 (100-74) overall and .552 (53-43) in league play.
•    The combined winning percentage amongst East teams is currently .437 (73-94) overall and .448 (43-53) in Sun Belt matches.
•    In matches pitting East vs. West teams in 2018, the West won the series 23-13.

FITZGERALD CLEANS UP FINAL AWARDS
•    Janell Fitzgerald was tabbed as both the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week, the league announced Nov. 12.
•    The Mansfield, Texas, native earned her first freshman of the week accolade. She also became the only rookie to earn offensive player of the week honors twice this season after picking up the laurel on Oct. 1.
•    She helped Texas State close out the regular season with a decisive 3-0 road sweep at UT Arlington on Nov. 9. After missing two matches due to injury, Fitzgerald returned to rip off career highs in both kills (19) and attack percentage (.692). She had just one error on 26 swings, while adding a pair of digs and blocks.
•    Texas State won 17 player of the week accolades this season, finishing just one shy of the league record. Emily DeWalt broke the Sun Belt's all-time mark with 11 league plaudits. Others to win a weekly award this season were Madison Daigle (Defensive, Sept. 3), Amy Pflughaupt (Offensive, Sept. 10), and Cheyenne Huskey (Offensive, Sept. 17).

DOUBLE-DOUBLE MACHINES
    Five different members of the maroon and gold have recorded at least one double-double this season.
•    Emily DeWalt (19) - The true freshman has registered at least 10 assists and digs in 19 of Texas State's 30 matches this season. That mark leads the Sun Belt Conference.
•    Micah Dinwiddie (1) - The junior libero had 18 digs and a career-high 11 assists for the first double-double of her career against Louisiana.
•    Cheyenne Huskey (6) - The junior transfer has logged double-digit kills and digs against UTSA, James Madison, Rice, Northern Arizona, Arkansas State, and Louisiana.
•    Amy Pflughaupt (1) - The senior ended the match against Rice with season highs in both kills (18) and digs (15).
•    Brooke Johnson (2) - The sophomore collected double-digit digs and assists against both Kentucky and Arkansas State.

2018 CAREER-HIGH PERFORMANCES
    Below is a list of all Bobcat returners who have registered new single-match career highs in 2018.
•    Halee Brewer - 5 blocks (Appalachian State), 11 kills (ULM)
•    Madison Daigle - 4 assists (UTSA), 6 digs (James Madison), .750 attack percentage (Georgia State)
•    Micah Dinwiddie - 11 assists (Louisiana)
•    Brooke Johnson - 4 aces (UTA)
•    Tyeranee Scott - .900 attack percentage (Louisiana), 2 assists (UTA)
•    Konner Wood - 3 assists (UTSA)

TXST SITS ATOP PRESEASON POLL
•    Texas State sat atop the conference table with 70 points and 10 of 12 first-place votes. The designation marked the first time TXST earned the most votes in the preseason poll since joining the Sun Belt.
•    Arkansas State was second in the West Division with 58 points and one first-place vote, while Louisiana was picked third with 51 points and the final first-place tally.
•    Coastal Carolina, the two-time defending league tournament champions, was projected as the favorites in the Sun Belt East Division with 67 points and eight first-place votes. South Alabama was picked second with 63 points and the remaining four first-place votes, while Appalachian State nestled into third at 44 points.
•    The campaign is the third that the Sun Belt is utilizing a divisional format. The Bobcats were picked second in the West in the first two iterations of the preseason poll.

-- TXSTATEBOBCATS.COM --