Thirty-One Ties and a Tough Ending in Wichita Falls
Lubbock Christian University saw its postseason ambitions vanish under the bright lights of D.L. Ligon Coliseum, bowing out after a punishing four-set battle against Midwestern State. According to athletic department reporting from lcuchaps.com, the Lady Chaparrals pushed through an astonishing 31 ties before the Mustangs ultimately pulled away for a 3-1 victory with set scores of 30-28, 28-26, 19-25, and 25-16.
The regular-season finale carried immense weight for both squads. LCU entered the Friday night matchup needing a clean win to secure one of the final nine Lone Star Conference Championship berths. Instead, the team closed out its campaign at 12-15 overall and 8-9 in conference play, while Midwestern State improved to 16-12 and 11-6 overall to punch its ticket.
Records Fall Amid the Chaos
Sophomore standout Camdyn Sears capped off her season with a staggering individual stat line, putting up 25 assists, 18 digs, and 11 kills. That effort secured her fourth triple-double of the season and her 16th double-double, bringing her career total to 39. The performance also placed her in elite company, making her just the fourth player in NCAA Division II volleyball to reach four triple-doubles on the year. Sears leaves the court needing just 12 more assists to cross the milestone 2,000 career mark.
The Lady Chaps didn’t go down quietly. The team racked up a season-high 93 digs, with six different players hitting double figures in the back row. Alongside Sears’ team-high 18 digs, Leigh Jespersen pitched in 13, Ramsey Clark and Haley Wheeler each added 12—with Wheeler setting a new career high—while Sienna Cavalier and Camryn Blair rounded out the defense with 10 digs apiece.
At the net, senior Camryn Blair notched 14 kills and 10 digs for her second career double-double. Fellow seniors Tatum Fleitman and Ramsey Clark also closed out their collegiate runs on the floor, leaving behind deep statistical legacies that include over 420 career kills for Blair, 263 kills and 93 blocks for Fleitman, and 907 career digs alongside 73 aces for Clark across 112 matches.
The Margin of Error in Tight Sets
The heartbreaking reality of the match lay in how close LCU came to controlling the tempo. In the opening set, the Lady Chaps clawed back to force a 24-24 tie behind consecutive kills from Blair, later taking a 28-27 lead on back-to-back kills from Sears. Midwestern State answered with three straight points to steal it 30-28. The second set followed a nearly identical script, with LCU holding a 26-25 edge before the Mustangs rattled off three unanswered points once again.
LCU bounced back decisively in the third frame, capitalizing on a 15-10 advantage in kills and a five-point service run from Haley Wheeler that featured two aces, cruising to a 25-19 win. But the momentum proved difficult to sustain. Midwestern State seized control early in the fourth set behind three kills from Nyle Mathis and never looked back, closing out the match 25-16.
For Midwestern State, Isabella Dickens and Nyle Mathis each hammered down 19 kills, while setter Macy Scheer orchestrated the offense with 61 assists and 11 digs. Jenna Redding anchored the Mustang defense with a match-high 25 digs, handing LCU its first loss in the head-to-head series since October 2017 and snapping a six-match win streak for the Lady Chaps.
Lady Chaps Prepare for Next Autumn as Postseason Bracket Begins
With the regular season officially in the rearview mirror, the focus shifts entirely to the postseason bracket for the teams that made the cut. The Lone Star Conference Championships loom just ahead on November 12, 2026, where the surviving field will battle for the conference crown. For the Lady Chaps, the offseason begins early, leaving an energetic young core centered around rising talents like Sears, freshman Kayson Reeves, and Hope Gonsioroski to build toward next autumn.
