DATES: Feb. 9 | Feb. 10
TIMES: 6:00 | 6:00
OPPONENT: Texas A&M-Commerce
LOCATION: Tyler, Texas | Herrington Patriot Center
PATRIOT'S RECORD: 4-0 (4-0 LSC)
LION'S RECORD: 2-0 (2-0 LSC)
LIVE STATS LINK: https://uttylerpatriots.com/sidearmstats/wvball/summary
LIVE VIDEO LINK: https://lonestarconferencenetwork.com/utt/
 
TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler will welcome fellow undefeated Texas A&M-Commerce to the Herrington Patriot Center on Tuesday and Wednesday night for a pair of Lone Star Conference matches.
 
Both game times are scheduled for 6 p.m. in a series that will feature the two lone undefeated squads in the Central Division squaring off with one another. UT Tyler enters the week with the best team hitting percentage (.273) in the Lone Star Conference, while Texas A&M-Commerce limited DBU to a team hitting percentage of just .099 in their two wins last week.
 
UT Tyler and Angelo State are the only two volleyball teams in the LSC to post a 4-0 mark through the first two weeks of the 2021 abbreviated season.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES

Tuesday and Wednesday will give UT Tyler a chance at the program's first-ever wins over Texas A&M-Commerce after dropping both matches against the Lions last season. Texas A&M-Commerce swept the Patriots in both of those matches.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS

Texas A&M-Commerce was selected to finish second in the 2021 Lone Star Conference Preseason Coaches Poll with 558 total votes after finishing 2019 with an overall record of 24-7. The Lions were ousted in the opening round of the Lone Star Conference Postseason Tournament by Texas Woman's, but still managed to earn a selection into the Division II National Tournament, losing in the opening round to LSC foe UAFS.
 
Craig Case recently took over as the program's all-time winningest coach with the Lions win last Wednesday against DBU, and is now 186-127 in his 11^th season at the head of the program.
 
The Lions have been led so far offensively in 2021 by the combination of Sydney Anderson and Maiya Dickie, who led Texas A&M-Commerce with 29 and 28 kills respectively in week one. Anderson was named the LSC Defensive Player of the Week last week after leading the Lions with a pair of double-doubles.
 
Riley Davidson leads the Lions with an average of 4.40 sets digs per set, while setter Celeste Vela is averaging 5.56 assist per set, 10^th best in the LSC.
 
 
11 STRAIGHT AND THEN A STATEMENT

UT Tyler continued to roll last week in the first of two games on the road against Texas Woman's, racking up their ninth straight set victories in a 3-0 win over the Pioneers on Tuesday night. The Patriots put an exclamation point on their third straight win to open up 2021 with a 25-11 third set victory to complete the sweep in the first of two games against Texas Woman's.
 
Mikayla Ware finished with double-digit kills for the third straight game (10), while Hannah Callison posted nine kills on 21 swings. Setters Taylor Stoops and Callie Craus continued to operate the offense at a high-level, combining for 32 assists throughout the match.
 
That momentum would not stop there as the Patriots followed up Tuesday's excellent performance with their 10^th and 11^th straight set wins to jump out to a 2-0 lead over Texas Woman's on Wednesday night. Those 25-23 wins in each set were nearly negated as Texas Woman's finally came to life and posted 25-23 and 25-22 wins in the third and fourth sets to force the Patriot's first fifth set of the season.
 
UT Tyler answered the fifth-set challenge with a statement, recording the final six points of the set, all kills, after trailing by a count of 11-9 to win the match. The Patriots failed to hit below .200 for a set in just a single set, the fourth set (.163), while Callison (17), Ware (14) and Maiya Peña (14) all recorded double-digit kill totals.
 
PATRIOT TAKEOVER

Those wins over Texas Woman's combined with the opening two wins in week number one against DBU have led UT Tyler to earning five out of the six available Lone Star Conference Player of the Week Awards through weeks one and two. Evelyn Torres (Offensive), Ware (Defensive) and Stoops (Setter) swept all three awards in week number one, and Callison (Offensive) and Stoops (Setter) got the nod for week two to continue the Patriot dominance in the weekly awards voting.
 
Callison totaled 28.5 points in the two matches against Texas Woman's, leading the team with 26 kills for the week. She posted a hitting percentage of .270 for the week. Stoops earned her second straight Setter of the Week Award last week by totaling 48 assists for the week and providing a huge 32-assist, 21-dig effort in the 3-2 five-set victory for the Patriots on Wednesday night.
 
Stoops ranks seventh in the LSC with an average of 6.53 assists per contest. Callison is ranked in the top ten of the Lone Star Conference in hitting percentage (.311), alongside fellow Patriots Peña (.385) and Christina Escamilla (.311), who rank second and ninth in the league respectively.
 
WAREING THEM OUT

Junior Mikayla Ware has already established herself as a top all-around athlete in the Lone Star Conference in just her first two weeks of competition after transferring from Panola Community College last season. Ware leads the Patriots with 48 kills and ranks second on the team with 49 digs.
 
She ranks eighth in the LSC with an average of 3.20 kills per set.