FOLEY, Ala. – No. 15 Texas State (24-2) upset No. 12 Coastal Carolina (18-1) in a five-set thriller (20-25, 25-18, 23-25, 25-19, 15-6) to be named the Sun Belt Conference Tournament Champions for the third consecutive year on Sunday afternoon at the Foley Event Center. It is the Bobcats fourth overall Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship and they become the first league member to three-peat since Little Rock in 1997-99.
 
Senior middle blocker Tyeranee Scott was named to the All-Sun Belt Tournament team and was selected as the Most Outstanding Player in the tournament. Scott is the fourth Sun Belt Conference Most Outstanding Player in program history, including Caylin Mahoney (2013), Madison Daigle (2018), and Cheyenne Huskey (2019). Junior setter Emily DeWalt also joined Scott on the All-Sun Belt Tournament team.

 

And now introducing, your back-to-back-to-back Sun Belt Conference Tournament Champions!!! #SunBeltVB #3PEATCOMPLETE #EatEmUp?? pic.twitter.com/HdEvM2TmLU

— Texas State Volleyball (@TexasStateVball) November 22, 2020

 
"We are feeling really good right now," said head coach Sean Huiet. "This season I preached all year that it is going to take everyone to win this thing. We had to overcome a lot of adversity in 2020 like everyone else, but what I think makes this team so unique is that you never knew whose night it was going to be. Anyone's number can be called at any time and they are always ready to step up. Coastal Carolina is a great team and we knew it was going to be a five-set battle. I thought we played ok, but we were a little too focused and tensed early on. I had to tell them to throw out the game plan and just play volleyball and once they relaxed, I saw the momentum shift."
 
It took five sets for the Bobcats to overcome the Chanticleers. The Chanticleers held the advantage in hitting percentage (.252-.241) and kills (62-61), but the Bobcats matched a season-high nine aces while holding Coastal to zero aces and 13 service errors. CCU is the fifth opponent the Bobcats held to no aces. Both teams tied with 13 blocks.  
 
Scott turned in a career-high 18 kills (.333) and totaled eight blocks, including two solos. Junior outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald finished with 13 kills with nine of them occurring in the fourth and fifth set. She also had six blocks in the win. Sophomore outside hitters Caitlan Buettner and Lauren Teske finished with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Buettner had a team-high .407 hitting percentage and had three blocks, while Teske led the team with three aces and added nine digs. DeWalt turned in her 50th career double-double with 49 assists and a team-high 18 digs. Senior setter Brooke Johnson followed with 15 digs and two aces, junior libero had 11 digs and two aces, and sophomore defensive specialist Michelle Foster had 10 digs. Junior middle blocker Jillian Slaughter also had two aces to go along with six kills and four blocks.  
 
Coastal Carolina had five players reach double figures in kills beginning with freshman outside hitter Blaire Fleming with 12 kills. Junior opposite Anett Nemeth also had 12 kills in just two sets before going down with a lower leg injury and did not return. Following those two was senior outside hitter Ani Bozdeva, freshman middle hitter Madison Lowery, and sophomore middle hitter Ilse Sinnige who each had 10 kills. Lowery and sophomore outside hitter Jelena Prolic led the team with four blocks. Sophomore setter Brigitta Petrenko recorded a double-double with 49 assists and 13 digs, while sophomore libero Lina Perugini had a match-high 25 digs in the loss.
 
Set 1
Both teams felt each other out early, but a 3-0 run by Coastal Carolina helped create space and they went into the media timeout leading Texas State 15-12. Although the Bobcats tied the score twice, a Chants 5-0 run made the count 22-17 and the Bobcats were not able to recover as they fell in the opening set, 25-20. The offense was kept under wraps as they hit a match-low -.029 in the frame.
 
Set 2
The Bobcats' offense settled in and jumped out to a 7-2 lead before Coastal called its first timeout. TXST held the lead throughout the set, but a 3-0 scoring run from CCU trimmed the deficit to 18-15 and the Cats burned a timeout. The Maroon and Gold finished the set strong, however, and won the set 25-18 after closing the set on a 4-1 run. Scott paced the team with eight kills in the set with just one error on 11 attacks (.636) and the team hit .316 collectively.
 
Set 3
It was a tightly contested start to the set but with the score tied at nine, Coastal went on a 6-2 run and went into the media timeout with a 15-11 lead. The Bobcats responded after the break with a 5-0 run to take a 16-15 advantage, but CCU came right back with a 4-0 run to regain the lead, 19-16. The teams traded a few points and a kill from Scott tied the set at 22, but CCU was able to score three of the final for points for a 25-23 victory. The third set alone had 11 ties and five lead changes.
 
Set 4
Texas State opened the set on a 5-1 run highlighted by aces from Slaughter and then Johnson. The Bobcats continued to apply pressure and grew its lead to 10-4 behind four unanswered points and led 15-9 before Coastal used its final timeout of the set. TXST never relinquished its lead and won the frame 25-19. The Bobcats hit .500 in the set behind 17 kills on 30 swings with only two errors.
 
Set 5
Texas State dominated the fifth set from the very beginning. Fitzgerald brought the energy for the Bobcats as she and Scott assisted on blocks for the first two points and Fitzgerald capped a 5-0 run with a kill that forced a Chanticleer timeout. Slaughter registered an ace after the timeout and after a Bobcat error, Teke logged her second and third kill in the set to give TXST an 8-2 advantage. The Chanticleers could never gain its footing in the deciding set as they hit a match-low -.250 in the 15-6 drumming.  
 
 
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