TYLER, TEXAS – The UT Tyler volleyball program will make history tomorrow afternoon as they are set to step on the court for the program's first appearance in an NCAA National Tournament in the quarterfinals of the South Central Regional Tournament against Colorado Mesa at 1 p.m. CST.
 
The first of four quarterfinal matches slated for the day inside the Auraria Event Center on the campus of MSU-Denver in Denver, Colo. will put the no. 6 seeded Patriots against no. 3 seed Colorado Mesa. UT Tyler enters the match with a 19-3 record in 2021, and earned the no. 2 seed in the 2021 Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championships after a 15-2 mark in LSC play.
 
UT Tyler was selected as one of six at-large bids into the eight-team field in the 2021 South Central Region Tournament, and will face a Colorado Mesa side that holds a 21-6 overall record and finished in a tie for third in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings with a league mark of 15-3.
 
TICKET PUNCHED
 
UT Tyler earned a spot in the 2021 NCAA Division II Volleyball National Tournament last week in the program's first year eligible for consideration into the field after completing the mandatory three-year transition period to full-fledged Division II status this summer. The Patriots will be making the volleyball program's first appearance in an NCAA National Tournament after beginning the program in 2003.
 
The Patriots joined two other LSC foes in no. 4 seeded Angelo State and LSC Tournament Champions and no. 7 seeded West Texas A&M in this weekend's field.
 
The winner of Thursday afternoon's match will take on the winner of the no. 2 seeded Colorado School of Mines and no. 7 seed West Texas A&M match on Friday night at 6 p.m. MST. That Colorado School of Mines-West Texas A&M quarterfinal tilt will take place immediately following the completion of the UT Tyler-Colorado Mesa match tomorrow afternoon.
 
The winners of the two semifinal matches, scheduled for 6 p.m. CST and 8:30 CST start on Friday night, will meet in Saturday's Championship Match at 8:30 p.m. CST.
 
ALL-CONFERENCE AND ALL-REGION ACCOLADES
 
The UT Tyler volleyball program was recognized with eight all-conference awards as announced at the Lone Star Conference. Mikayla Ware (First Team), Christina Escamilla (First Team), Savannah Guzman (Second Team), Callie Craus (Honorable Mention), Hannah Callison (Honorable Mention) and Maiya Peña (Honorable Mention) all earned a spot on the All-Lone Star Conference list while Craus and Escamilla each received All-Academic honors for their combined efforts on the court and in the classroom in 2021.
 
Ware and Escamilla also added an AVCA All-South Central Region First Team selection to their All-LSC First Team accolades. The two Patriot standouts were two of 14 recipients on the First Team list as voted upon by AVCA members from the RMAC and LSC.
 
NATIONAL RANKINGS
 
The Patriots enter the South Central Regional Tournament ranked no. 22 in the AVCA Women's Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll. UT Tyler climbed as high as no. 13 in the national polls back on Nov. 8 and as high as no. 5 in the South Central regional rankings in the first two editions of the rankings.
 
The Patriots have appeared in all 13 editions of the AVCA Women's Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll this season.
 
HEAD COACH LYNDSAY MASHE
 
Coach Mashe became the all-time leader in career wins for the UT Tyler volleyball program with her 95^th career victory in a 3-0 sweep of St. Mary's back on Sept. 24^th in San Antonio, Texas. Mashe is now 107-39 (.733) in her six seasons as head coach of the Patriots, and has compiled a 33-4 record over the span of the 2021 calendar year.
 
She won her 300^th career game as a head coach at the collegiate level in a 3-1 victory over Texas A&M-Commerce on Nov. 6^th, and is 301-161 (.652) in her 16-year career as a head coach. She compiled a 194-122 (.614) record in 10 seasons as head coach at her alma mater East Texas Baptist University from 2006-to-2016 before accepting the head coaching position at UT Tyler.
 
IMPACT PLAYERS FOR THE PATRIOTS
 
Ware and Escamilla highlighted a Patriot offense that ranked second in the LSC with a team hitting percentage of .245 on the year, and ranks seventh in all of Division II volleyball with an average of 14.55 kills per set.
 
Ware was dynamic both offensively and defensively throughout 2021 for the Patriots, leading the team with 292 kills for the season and ranked second on the squad with 297 digs. The San Antonio, Texas native averaged 3.74 kills per set, fourth best in the LSC, and averaged 4.19 points per set, also fourth best amongst the conference.
 
Ware totaled 12 double-doubles in 2021, and notched double-digit kill totals in 15 matches this fall. She posted a season high 19 kills in the Patriots 3-1 win back on Sept. 17 against West Texas A&M, and logged 18 kills in three different matches throughout the season.
 
Escamilla put down 211 kills in 456 attempts in 2021 for a .377 hitting percentage. She ranks 16th in all of Division II volleyball with that mark, and posted back-to-back games of 20 or more kills in the UT Tyler wins back on Sept. 4th against New Mexico Highlands and Central Oklahoma.
 
Guzman was an elite libero throughout 2021 for head coach Lyndsay Mashe, and received All-LSC Second Team honors after totaling the most digs for the Patriots with 379. She ranked third in the LSC with an average of 4.92 digs per set, and helped pace a UT Tyler defense that ranked third in the LSC with 18.04 digs per set for the season.
 
The San Antonio, Texas native surpassed the 1,000 career digs mark back on Oct. 9th in the Patriot's 3-1 victory over Midwestern State. She ranks sixth all-time in the UT Tyler volleyball record books with 1,167 career digs.
 
Guzman was also named to the 2021 spring All-LSC team, and the All-Tournament Team. She notched a career high 33 digs in the 3-1 Patriot victory over Lubbock Christian back on Oct. 22nd, and went for 20 or more digs in seven matches in 2021.
 
Junior Callie Craus was a member of a setter unit for UT Tyler that leads Division II volleyball with an average of 13.90 assists per set in 2021, and was named as an Honorable Mention All-LSC selection for her role in the group's success. She paced that unit with 529 assists throughout the season, and ranked ninth in the LSC with an average of 6.78 assists per set.
 
The Grapevine, Texas native was fourth among the team with 165 digs this fall, and posted six double-doubles on the year.
 
She was named the LSC Setter of the Week on two different occasions, back on Oct. 5th and on Nov. 9th. Craus posted her career high assists total with 35 back on Sept. 4th in the victory over Central Oklahoma.
 
Craus alongside fellow setter Taylor Stoops have combined to provide one of the nation's best one-two punces at the setter position. Stoops added 375 assists in 2021 and had five double-doubles on the year.
 
Senior Hannah Callison and junior Maiya Peña joined Craus on the Honorable Mention All-LSC list, completing a deep offensive presence for the Patriots on the All-Conference list this fall.
 
Callison totaled 170 kills in 2021, and finished the 2021 regular season with a hitting percentage of .319 for the year. Her best volleyball came at the end of the 2021 regular season as she posted 10 or more kills in each of the final five matches for UT Tyler to close out the regular season, including a season-high 15 kills in the season finale against UT Permian Basin and nine kills in the Patriot's LSC Championships quarterfinal match against St. Edward's.
 
Peña led the LSC with a .387 attack percentage for the year, putting down 129 kills in just 269 attacks in 2021. She ranks 12th in all of Division II volleyball in that category, and committed just 25 attacking errors in 22 matches for the Patriots.
 
Her impact was also felt defensively for UT Tyler as she averaged 0.94 blocks per set, seventh best in the LSC, and leads the Patriots with 71.0 blocks.
 

SCOUTING THE MAVERICKS
 
Colorado Mesa, like the Patriots, will enter Thursday afternoon's meeting on the heels of a 3-2 loss as the Mavericks were ousted from the RMAC Postseason Tournament by Colorado School of Mines in the semifinals. The Mavericks are making their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance since making the move to the Division II ranks in 1992.
 
They have made the NCAA National Tournament eight times under the guidance of current head coach Dave Fleming, who has been at the helm of the program for 17 seasons. The Mavericks are 7-8 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, and 7-7 in the tournament under Fleming.
 
Four members of the current Mavericks roster have made a trip to the NCAA National Tournament as members of the 2018 team that qualified for the event, including reigning RMAC Defensive Player of the Year Kersten Layman. Layman was one of two Mavericks to earn major honors on the RMAC All-Conference list, as Sydney Leffler was named the league's Freshman of the Year as well.
 
Leffler was named an All-RMAC First Team selection alongside Sabrina VandeList. Leffler finished the year ranked second in the RMAC in kills per set and fourth in points per set (3.74).
 
Thursday's meeting will be the first ever meeting between the two program's and the first time UT Tyler has competed against an RMAC-affiliated school.