DATES: Feb. 2 | Feb. 3
TIMES: 6:00 | 6:00
OPPONENT: Texas Woman's University
LOCATION: Denton, Texas | Kitty Magee Arena
PATRIOT'S RECORD: 2-0 (2-0 LSC)
PIONEER'S RECORD: 0-0 (0-0 LSC)
LIVE STATS LINK: http://statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=txwo
LIVE VIDEO LINK: https://lonestarconferencenetwork.com/twu/
 
TYLER, TEXAS – The University of Texas at Tyler will hit the road for the first time in 2021 this week to take on Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas.
 
The Patriots and Pioneers will meet on both Tuesday night and Wednesday night at 6 p.m. inside Kitty Magee Arena for just the third meeting all-time between the two program's. UT Tyler will look to remain undefeated after an impressive sweep of DBU in last week's season opening matches inside the Herrington Patriot Center.
 
No fans will be allowed to attend the matches on either night per university guidelines set forth by Texas Woman's University.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
 
UT Tyler and Texas Woman's will meet for just the third time on Tuesday night, as Texas Woman's got the better of the Patriots in each of the first two meetings last season. The Pioneers took down UT Tyler on Sept. 27 of 2019 in the program's first ever meeting by a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-15) final and then again on Oct. 19 of the same year by a 3-1 (25-13, 23-25, 25-21, 25-12) mark.
 
AN OPENING WEEK TO REMEMBER
 
UT Tyler produced arguably the most impressive opening series last week across the LSC against DBU, winning both matches and sweeping all three Lone Star Conference Player of the Week Awards. The Patriots rattled off six straight set victories after losing in the opening set on Tuesday night to defeat DBU by a 3-1 (25-27, 28-26, 25-15, 25-10) and 3-0 (28-26, 25-15, 25-9) final tally.
 
The Patriots were especially impressive in the second and third sets on Wednesday night to finish off the season-opening sweep, committing just four attack errors as a team in those final two frames.
 
UT Tyler was awarded with the recognition of all three Lone Star Conference Player of the Week Awards for the first two wins of the season as freshman Evelyn Torres was named the Offensive Player of the Week, junior Mikayla Ware the Defensive Player of the Week, and junior Taylor Stoops the Setter of the Week.
 
Torres led the team with 29 kills in the two matches, hitting .375 for the week, and ranks third in the Lone Star Conference with an average of 4.14 kills per set following the opening week of matches. She recorded 15 kills on Tuesday night and 14 kills on Wednesday night and contributed 33 service receptions without a single error.
 
Ware totaled 24 digs between the two matches to help lead the defensive effort for the Patriots and finished second on the team with 26 kills. The transfer out of Panola Community College hit .217 for the week in her first action as a Patriot and displayed a well-balanced skillset for the Patriots.
 
Stoops stepped right back into her role as the captain of a Patriots offense that finished the first week of matches with the best team hitting percentage in the LSC at .281 percent. Stoops finished with 50 assists for the week, notching 28 on Tuesday and 22 on Wednesday to manufacture the LSC's top statistical offense after week one.
 
SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
 
The Pioneers did not compete last week after their opening matches against Texas A&M-Commerce were postponed and will be opening their 2021 campaign this week. Head coach Jeff Huebner will enter his fourth season as the head coach of TWU after leading his team to a mark of 17-15 (11-7 LSC) in 2019. The Pioneers finished third in their division in 2019 and are set to return four out of their five kills per set leaders in 2021.
 
Texas Woman's was selected to finish sixth in the 2021 Lone Star Conference Preseason Poll.
 
HEAD COACH LYNDSAY MASHE
 
Head coach Lyndsay Mashe is now 66-19 in her fourth season at UT Tyler and has led the Patriots to their first 2-0 start since the 2018 campaign in which the Patriots posted a mark of 24-2. The two wins last week against DBU stand as the first back-to-back wins for the program in Lone Star Conference play.
 
MORE THAN JUST THE THREE AWARD WINNERS
 
As impressive as the trio of Torres, Ware and Stoops were for the Patriots last week, the squad showed a good mix of depth and versatility that will be vital in the shortened spring season. Three additional Patriots totaled 10 or more kills throughout the two matches combined while sophomore Callie Craus, a transfer from McNeese State, totaled 44 assists for the week.