SAN MARCOS, Texas - The Texas State volleyball team will have some very familiar surroundings when the Bobcats face the Rice Owls in the first round of the NCAA Championship at 4 p.m. Nov. 29 at Gregory Gym in Austin.
Earlier this season, Texas State won a five-set decision at Rice on Sept. 4 and played in Gregory Gym against No. 5-seeded Texas on Sept. 6.
"It seems like it has been a long time ago since we played them, but it is nice to have a history," Texas State head coach
Karen Chisum said. "When we played at Rice, it was a dogfight and it went five sets."
In that first match three different Bobcats recorded double-doubles, led by 18 kills and 15 digs by
Amy Pflughaupt.
Cheyenne Huskey tallied 17 kills and 15 digs, and true freshman
Emily DeWalt recorded 55 assists, 13 digs and a match-best six blocks.
Micah Dinwiddie finished with a match-high 34 digs,
Madison Daigle had 14 kills and
Brooke Johnson added 11 digs.
Texas State (26-6, 15-1 Sun Belt) returns to the NCAA Tournament for the 10th time overall and first time since 2013 after winning the Sun Belt Championship. The Bobcats also won their first Sun Belt regular season title and enter the 2018 NCAA Tournament having won 20 of their last 21 matches. Texas State enters the postseason with its highest RPI in program history (24th).
Rice (24-6, 12-2 C-USA) enters the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009 and just the fourth time in school history after the Owls won the Conference USA regular season and C-USA Championship.
The other NCAA First Round match features No. 5 seeded Texas (20-4, 15-1 Big XII) against Stephen F. Austin (32-2, 16-0 Southland) at 7 p.m.
The winners of the two matches play at 8 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 30. The winner of the Austin sub-regional advances to the NCAA Regionals on Dec. 7-8. The NCAA Championship is Dec. 15 in Minneapolis.
First and second round all-session and single-day tickets are available now. Tickets may be purchased at
www.TexasSports.com/Tickets, by calling 512-471-3333, or in person at Bellmont Hall (Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m.-4 p.m.). Tickets sales are based on availability.
