TYLER, TEXAS - #12 UT Tyler battled to the very end in a hard-fought 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 25-20, 15-25, 11-15) loss to #7 Angelo State in the championship match of the 2021 Spring Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship.
 
The Patriots conclude the spring season with a 14-1 record and advanced all the way to the fifth set of the championship match in their first appearance in the LSC Postseason Tournament. Savannah Guzman, Taylor Stoops and Christina Escamilla earned the school's first LSC Championship All-Tournament Team honors for their efforts in the three matches of the tournament for UT Tyler.
 
The program earned their first-ever Division II national ranking, rising to as high as no. 12 in the AVCA Top-25 National Coaches Poll after finishing the regular season with an undefeated regular season record of 12-0. The Patriots lost just nine sets all season long, and posted 3-0 sweeps in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the postseason tournament over #23 West Texas A&M and UAFS.
 
UT Tyler secured set wins in the first and third sets over the Rambelles to jump out to a 2-1 advantage in the match, but fell in sets four and five as Angelo State claimed the tenth Lone Star Conference Championship for the program.
 
Kylee Becker and Taylor Stoops both had double-doubles for the Patriots as Becker totaled 13 kills and 18 digs and Stoops dished out 27 assists and recorded 12 digs of her own. Hannah Callison totaled a team-high 14 kills for the Patriots while Hattie Murray notched a team-high five blocks.
 
The Rambelle offense in the fourth and fifth sets proved to be the difference maker on the night as they posted attack percentages of .353 and .333 in the fourth and fifth set and out-killed the Patriots 28-to-15 over the course of those sets.
 
The Patriots converted on a 21-16 advantage in the first set to jump ahead with their seventh straight set win of the tournament and then pushed the lead to 2-1 in the match with seven straight points to finish off a 25-20 win in set four. The Rambelle offense found it's stride to tie up the match in the fourth set with a 25-15 win, and then scored three out of the final four points in the deciding fifth-set to convert a 12-10 advantage into a 15-11 victory.
 
UT Tyler battled all the way to the end, notching a run of three straight points after trailing 12-7 in the final set to give themselves a chance to complete the comeback. All three of those points came by way of kills for Escamilla, Mikayla Ware and Callison, before Angelo State was able to post a trio of kills of their own to end it.
 
The Patriots will return all 10 players that saw time in this evening's championship match, and will enter the 2021 fall season as a presumptive favorite to once again challenge for the Lone Star Conference crown.