2018 Sun Belt Volleyball News and Notes:
Standings | Composite Schedule | Stats |
Championship Information
AROUND #SUNBELTVB
• Sun Belt volleyball has 14 matches on tap this week. Two Tuesday tilts start the week’s action, headlined by the top two teams in the West Division, first-place Texas State and second-place UTA meeting on the Bobcats’ home floor. The match doubles as Texas State’s 12th Annual Pink Match to help promote cancer awareness.
• Texas State rolls into the week having won eight-straight matches and UTA is on a streak of its own having won three straight. The Mavericks stopped Arkansas State’s eight-match winning streak with a 3-2 triumph on Sept. 28.
• In addition to her third-straight week winning Sun Belt weekly honors, Texas State freshman setter Emily DeWalt was
named the Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association Division I National Player of the Week on Oct. 2. DeWalt is the fourth player in Sun Belt volleyball history to earn AVCA Division I National Player of the Week honors and the first since 2011. Previous Sun Belt winners were WKU's Amanda Schiff (Nov. 10, 2003) and Jordyn Skinner (Sept. 13, 2011) and Middle Tennessee's Ashley Adams (Sept. 6, 2005).
• Over in the East Division, Appalachian State (12-4, 4-0 Sun Belt) and Coastal Carolina (3-7, 2-0) are the only other teams still unbeaten in Sun Belt play.
• Appalachian State is undefeated to open conference play for the first time since 2015. The Mountaineers overcame a two-set deficit to get the victory over Louisiana on Sept. 30. It marked the first time App State erased a 2-0 deficit since Sept. 18, 2015, when the Mountaineers rallied from two sets down at Troy.
• Coastal Carolina’s Sun Belt match winning streak sits at 16 entering the week, dating back to last season. The Chanticleers’ last setback in league play was a 3-0 loss to Texas State on Oct. 1, 2017.
• Georgia Southern had a record night in its Sept. 30 win at Troy. The Eagles set a school single-match mark with 23 blocks and sophomore middle blocker Lauren Hager tied a school single-match record with a career-high 12 blocks. In that same match, Troy sophomore outside hitter Cheyenne Hayes posted a career-high 25 digs and extended her double-digit kill streak to 15th straight matches.
• Speaking of school records, Louisiana senior libero Sydney Davis enters the week with 1,785 career gigs. She needs 79 digs to surpass the Ragin’ Cajuns rally scoring era record of 1,863, held by Lindsay Brown (2007-10). Davis has 92 career matches with double-digit digs to her credit.
• The 2018 Sun Belt Women’s Volleyball Championship is set for Nov. 15-18 at the GSU Sports Arena in Atlanta, Ga., hosted by Georgia State.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Janell Fitzgerald, Texas State (Fr., OH, Mansfield, Texas)
Texas State freshman outside hitter Janell Fitzgerald averaged 4.14 kills per set (29 total) and hit .389 (eight errors on 54 swings) in a pair of victories. Fitzgerald hit .412 and led the Bobcats with a career-high 18 kills against Little Rock. She then had 11 kills and just four errors in a sweep over the Red Wolves. Fitzgerald also added seven digs and five blocks across the two victories to extend Texas State’s winning streak to eight straight.
| Fitzgerald's Weekly Stats |
| Match |
s |
k |
k/s |
e |
ta |
pct |
a |
a/s |
sa |
sa/s |
digs |
d/s |
bs |
ba |
tot |
b/s |
pts |
pts/s |
| Sep 28 vs. Little Rock W, 3-1 |
4 |
18 |
4.50 |
4 |
34 |
.412 |
1 |
0.25 |
0 |
0.00 |
4 |
1.00 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0.75 |
19.5 |
4.9 |
| Sep 29 vs. Arkansas State W, 3-0 |
3 |
11 |
3.67 |
4 |
20 |
.350 |
0 |
0.00 |
0 |
0.00 |
3 |
1.00 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
0.67 |
12.0 |
4.0 |
| Overall |
7 |
29 |
4.14 |
8 |
54 |
.389 |
1 |
0.14 |
0 |
0.00 |
7 |
1.00 |
0 |
5 |
5 |
0.71 |
31.5 |
4.5 |
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Madelyn St. Germain, UTA (Jr., LB, League City, Texas)
UTA junior libero Madelyn St. Germain posted a big weekend, grabbing at least 25 digs in both weekend wins. St. Germain had 25 digs (5.0/set) in a five-setter against Arkansas State and then picked up her game with 35 digs (7.0/set) against Little Rock. She picked up seven assists and an ace against Arkansas State and added nine assists with a kill against Little Rock.
| St. Germain's Weekly Stats |
| Match |
s |
k |
k/s |
e |
ta |
pct |
a |
a/s |
sa |
sa/s |
digs |
d/s |
bs |
ba |
tot |
b/s |
pts |
pts/s |
| Sep 28 vs. Arkansas State W, 3-2 |
5 |
0 |
0.00 |
0 |
0 |
- |
7 |
1.40 |
1 |
0.20 |
25 |
5.00 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
1.0 |
0.2 |
| Sep 29 vs. Little Rock W, 3-2 |
5 |
1 |
0.20 |
0 |
3 |
.333 |
9 |
1.80 |
0 |
0.00 |
35 |
7.00 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
1.0 |
0.2 |
| Overall |
10 |
1 |
0.10 |
0 |
3 |
.333 |
16 |
1.60 |
1 |
0.10 |
60 |
6.00 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
2.0 |
0.2 |
SETTER & CO-FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Emily DeWalt, Texas State (Fr., S, Helotes, Texas)
Texas State freshman setter Emily DeWalt had double-doubles in victories over Little Rock and Arkansas State. DeWalt averaged 14.00 assists/set (98) and 3.43 digs/set (24) while adding six kills, four aces and a block. She had 55 assists and 14 digs in a four-set win over the Trojans and tallied 43 assists and 10 digs in a sweep over the Red Wolves. Both assist totals were the most this season by a Sun Belt player in a three- and four-set match, respectively.
| DeWalt's Weekly Stats |
| Match |
s |
k |
k/s |
e |
ta |
pct |
a |
a/s |
sa |
sa/s |
digs |
d/s |
bs |
ba |
tot |
b/s |
pts |
pts/s |
| Sep 28 vs. Little Rock W, 3-1 |
4 |
5 |
1.25 |
0 |
7 |
.714 |
55 |
13.75 |
3 |
0.75 |
14 |
3.50 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
8.0 |
2.0 |
| Sep 29 vs. Arkansas State W, 3-0 |
3 |
1 |
0.33 |
0 |
4 |
.250 |
43 |
14.33 |
1 |
0.33 |
10 |
3.33 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.33 |
2.5 |
0.8 |
| Overall |
7 |
6 |
0.86 |
0 |
11 |
.545 |
98 |
14.00 |
4 |
0.57 |
24 |
3.43 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0.14 |
10.5 |
1.5 |
CO-FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Anett Nemeth, Coastal Carolina (Fr., OH, Pecel, Hungary)
Coastal Carolina freshman outside hitter Anett Nemeth led the Chanticleers to a pair of wins in their first two Sun Belt matches of the season, averaging 4.14 kills/set and 5.86 digs/set with a .274 hitting percentage. All three numbers were team highs. Nemeth had a pair of double-doubles with 17 kills and 26 digs against Louisiana and 12 kills and 15 digs against ULM. She also had a team-high of four service aces and added three blocks.
| Nemeth's Weekly Stats |
| Match |
s |
k |
k/s |
e |
ta |
pct |
a |
a/s |
sa |
sa/s |
digs |
d/s |
bs |
ba |
tot |
b/s |
pts |
pts/s |
| Sep 28 vs. Louisiana W, 3-1 |
4 |
17 |
4.25 |
11 |
40 |
.150 |
1 |
0.25 |
2 |
0.50 |
26 |
6.50 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
0.50 |
21.0 |
5.3 |
| Sep 30 vs. ULM W, 3-0 |
3 |
12 |
4.00 |
1 |
22 |
.500 |
1 |
0.33 |
2 |
0.67 |
15 |
5.00 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0.33 |
15.0 |
5.0 |
| Overall |
7 |
29 |
4.14 |
12 |
62 |
.274 |
2 |
0.29 |
4 |
0.57 |
41 |
5.86 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
0.43 |
36.0 |
5.1 |
2018 Weekly Award Winners
Offensive Player
August 27: Anett Nemeth, Coastal Carolina
September 3: Madison Hill, UTA
September 10: Amy Pflughaupt, Texas State
September 17: Cheyenne Huskey, Texas State
September 24: Carlisa May, Arkansas State
October 1: Janell Fitzgerald, Texas State
Defensive Player
August 27: Tatum Ticknor, Arkansas State
September 3: Madison Daigle, Texas State
September 10: Veronica Marin, Little Rock
September 17: Madelyn St. Germain, UTA
September 24: Veronica Marin, Little Rock
October 1: Madelyn St. Germain, UTA
Setter
August 27: Ellie Watkins, Arkansas State
September 3: Becky Porter, Appalachian State and Emily DeWalt, Texas State
September 10: Becky Porter, Appalachian State
September 17: Emily DeWalt, Texas State
September 24: Emily DeWalt, Texas State
October 1: Emily DeWalt, Texas State
Freshman
August 27: Anett Nemeth, Coastal Carolina
September 3: Emily DeWalt, Texas State
September 10: Anett Nemeth, Coastal Carolina
September 17: Emily DeWalt, Texas State
September 24: Emily DeWalt, Texas State
October 1: Anett Nemeth, Coastal Carolina and Emily DeWalt, Texas State
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, October 2
Georgia Southern at Savannah State, 5:00 p.m.
*UTA at Texas State, 6:30 p.m.
Friday, October 5
*Little Rock at Appalachian State, 5:30 p.m.
*Arkansas State at Coastal Carolina, 5:30 p.m.
*Texas State at Georgia Southern, 5:30 p.m.
*UTA at Georgia State, 5:30 p.m.
*Troy at Louisiana, 6:30 p.m.
*South Alabama at ULM, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, October 6
*Texas State at Georgia State, 5:30 p.m.
*South Alabama at Louisiana, 6:30 p.m.
*Troy at ULM, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, October 7
*Arkansas State at Appalachian State, 11:30 a.m.
*Little Rock at Coastal Carolina, 11:30 a.m.
*UTA at Georgia Southern, 11:30 a.m.
*Sun Belt Conference contest
All Times are Central and Subject to Change