SAN MARCOS, TEXAS – Coastal Carolina claimed its first win at Texas State since 2016 and earned the outright Sun Belt Conference regular-season title on Thursday night as the Chanticleers defeated the Bobcats 3-1 (25-22, 15-25, 25-21, 25-22).
Coastal (19-8, 14-1 Sun Belt) earned its first conference title since 2020 and its fourth in eight seasons while denying Texas State (18-8, 11-4 Sun Belt) an opportunity to earn a share of the crown with two wins over the Chants.
Jalyn Stout, the nation's leader in triple-doubles, tallied her 11th of the season with 16 kills, 18 assists, and 16 digs, to become the first Division I player since 2019 to notch 11 triple-doubles in a single season.
Jasmine Rivest finished the night with 12 kills and 15 digs, while
Lauren Malone added 11 kills.
Cagla Bengi led the Chants with 31 assists and
Sydney Lewis recorded a team-high 22 digs.
After a back-and-forth battle early in the first set, Texas State took a 15-12 lead only to see Coastal rally to knot the score at 19-19. The two teams traded points before a kill from Malone ignited a 5-0 Chanticleer run. The Bobcats pulled within two, but a Stout kill gave Coastal a 25-22 victory in set one.
Texas State broke open a 4-4 tie in the second set with 9-2 burst, then held the Chants at bay to even the match with a 25-15 set two win. The trend of close starts continued in set three as Coastal led 15-14 before
Valentina Varani's kill began a 3-0 spurt that gave the Chants a four-point lead. The Bobcats stormed back to even the score at 20-20, but Stout and
Agata Lesiak tallied back-to-back kills to give momentum back to CCU as the Chants scored five of the final six points in the set to go up 2-1 with a 25-21 win.
A Stout kill sparked a crucial 5-0 run in set four as the Chants erased a three-point deficit to go up 10-8. Texas State answered with five consecutive points of its own to move ahead 15-12 and held an 18-17 lead before committing a ball handling and attack error on consecutive points to put the Chants back in front. Coastal closed strong once again as the Chants turned to Stout, who scored CCU's final three points of the night in a 25-22 match-clinching win.
Coastal Carolina will conclude the regular season tomorrow night as the Chants and Bobcats face off again at 7:00 p.m.
