DURANT, OKLA. - #20 UT Tyler finished off the Southeastern Classic with a perfect 4-0 record on Saturday afternoon with a pair of 3-1 wins over New Mexico Highlands and Central Oklahoma.
 
The victories stand as the 15^th and 16^th straight regular season victories for the Patriots dating back to the 2021 spring schedule. Junior Christina Escamilla recorded 20 or more kills in both matches on Saturday afternoon, and finished the weekend with a .496 hitting percentage for the tournament.
 
The 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 19-25, 25-20) win in the afternoon match over Central Oklahoma, who had won both of their matches thus far in the Southeastern Classic, gives UT Tyler a victory over a team who received votes in the 2021 AVCA Division II Preseason Coaches Poll.
 
Escamilla highlighted a morning match against New Mexico Highlands in which the Patriots nearly doubled the Cowboys kill output in the 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-20, 25-23) victory, putting down 63 kills in the match. New Mexico Highlands managed to sneak by with a 25-23 second set win to tie the match up at 1-1, but had no answer for a Patriot offense that hit .448 in the third set and put down 17 kills in the fourth frame.
 
New Mexico Highlands provided a fight for the Patriots in the third, continuing to press UT Tyler after their second set victory by jumping out to a 19-13 lead. UT Tyler responded by rattling off 11 straight unanswered points, flipping the script on the Cowboys to pad a 24-19 lead.
 
Escamilla knocked down her sixth kill of that third set to give UT Tyler the victory, and then converted six of her nine swings in the fourth set into kills to lead the Patriots to a deciding 25-23 win. New Mexico Highlands made the Patriots work for that win once again, but failed to slow down a Patriot offense that scored it's final six points all by way of kills.
 
Senior Mikayla Ware also got her Saturday of volleyball started with an impressive output in the morning win, recording a double-double with 18 kills and 16 digs in the match. Sophomore Evelyn Torres joined Escamilla and Ware in the double-digit kills category, knocking down 13 of her own to assist with the .216 team hitting percentage for the Patriots for the match.
 
Junior Savannah Guzman once again captained the defensive output for the Patriots in the morning match, leading the way with 19 digs.
 
The headliner for UT Tyler and the rest of the Lone Star Conference from the weekend could have been etched in the afternoon match, as the Patriots handled unarguably their toughest test to date with authority in the 3-1 win over Central Oklahoma. Central Oklahoma entered the tournament with similar high expectations like the Patriots, and separated themselves with the Patriots as the class of the Southeastern Classic over the weekend.
 
The squad jumped on the Brochos early in both the first and second sets, opening up a 14-7 lead in set one and a 12-5 advantage in the second, and survived a blown chance at the sweep to notch what could stand as a signature early season win.
 
Escamilla put together her second 20-kill match of the day and Ware added another double-double to the mix with 16 kills and 16 digs as UT Tyler used a seven-point run in the fourth set to extend a 21-14 advantage and finished the tournament off in style with a 25-20 set victory.
 
Junior Callie Craus posted 30 or more sets in both matches for UT Tyler, finishing the day with a total of 67. Guzman notched 20 digs in the afternoon match against Central Oklahoma.
 
The first two set wins and the ability to close out the fourth set after the slight letdown in set number three proves that UT Tyler is once again ready to go toe-to-toe with the nation's best midway through their non-conference schedule.
 
A host of fellow ranked foes will await the Patriots in their second non-conference tournament next weekend, as head coach Lyndsay Mashe and her squad will take to the court inside the Herrington Patriot Center for the first time this season at the 2021 Dakota's Patriot Classic.
 
That tournament will allow UT Tyler a shot at three more teams associated with the Preseason National Top 25 Poll, as they are set to do battle with Ferris State, #19 Harding and #9 Oklahoma Baptist throughout the tournament. The first of those matches will get started on Thursday night at 6 p.m. against a Ferris State team, who like Central Oklahoma, received votes in the preseason poll.