SAN MARCOS, TX — Texas State volleyball student-athletes
Jada Gardner and
Emily DeWalt played their final regular-season volleyball matches last week at Coastal Carolina and not only did the duo pick up two wins, but they also picked up two more Sun Belt weekly honors for the program.
Gardner joins fifth-year senior
Janell Fitzgerald as Bobcat student-athletes to have been selected as the league's offensive player of the week this season. For DeWalt, Tuesday's honor is the seventh setter of the week recognition this season and conference-leading 25th for her career.
"Jada has been playing so well since coming back from her injury," said Texas State volleyball head coach
Sean Huiet. "She's playing like a senior, who doesn't want her season to end and that's huge for us. I'm glad she was honored with player of the week for her efforts at Coastal Carolina.
"And what a way for Emily to end her regular-season career: with the final setter of the week honor. Emily has set the standard as an elite setter in the Sun Belt Conference."
Gardner averaged 4.0 kills per set while finishing with a .366 attack percentage in Texas State's two wins at Coastal Carolina, the number two team in the conference's east division. In the Bobcats' opening match on Thursday, Gardner posted a season-high 22 kills on a .409 attack percentage. And, during the course of the match, she became the second active Bobcat student-athlete to surpass 1,000 career collegiate kills, joining Fitzgerald. She followed that performance up with her first double-double on the season with an 18-kill, 12-dig outing on Friday afternoon.
In two matches against Coastal Carolina, DeWalt was credited with 96 total assists and a 9.60 assists per set average as the Bobcats knocked off the Chanticleers. In Thursday's match, DeWalt turned in a 51-assist, 11-dig performance that was complimented by five kills, four service aces and one block. Less than 20 hours later, she capped her final regular-season volleyball match with a 45-assist, 16-dig double-double.
UP NEXT
- Texas State (22-6, 14-2) will enter this week's Sun Belt Conference Championship as the number one seed out of the league's West Division after posting an 11-1 record in divisional play. The Bobcats will open up postseason play at 7:30 p.m. CT on Friday, Nov. 18 against the winner of the fourth-seeded App State Mountaineers and fifth-seeded Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.
- The Mountaineers and Ragin' Cajuns play at 7:30 p.m. CT on Thursday, Nov. 17.
FOLLOW US
- For the latest information on the team, follow @TexasStateVball on Twitter, @TxStateVolleyball on Instagram and Facebook. General athletic news can also be at @TxStateBobcats on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
