Match Info	Opponent Info
No. 4 UT Tyler vs. No. 1 West Texas A&M UTT: 20-8, 12-4 LSC | WT: 25-4, 16-0 LSC Friday, Nov. 11th | 7:30 P.M. WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" | Canyon, Texas		ROSTER	SCHEDULE	STATS

SURVIVE AND ADVANCE

No. 4 seed UT Tyler survived an all-time classic in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship with a 3-2 (25-20, 25-21, 16-25, 22-25, 17-15) win over no. 5 Texas A&M-Kingsville on Thursday night in Canyon, Texas. The Patriots saw a 2-0 lead in the match spiral away with spirited victories by Texas A&M-Kingsville in the third and fourth sets, and then found a way to advance to tomorrow's semifinal match in extra points in the deciding fifth set with a 17-15 win. Senior Mikayla Ware had 22 kills and 20 digs and libero Savannah Guzman totaled 25 digs to secure what may have been the win of the season for the Patriots with selection into the NCAA Division II Volleyball National Tournament hanging in the balance. UT Tyler entered the night ranked no. 7 in the final edition of the NCAA South Central Regional Rankings released prior to selection of the South Central Regional Tournament field scheduled for Sunday evening. Texas A&M-Kingsville sat no. 9 in those rankings on the outside looking in to the eight spots available in the regional tournament field. The Patriots pulled away in the first and second sets with timely runs, and looked to have the match under control before Texas A&M-Kingsville exploded for a 13-5 run to start the third set, and then an ensuing 25-22 victory in the fourth set to force a deciding fifth set. UT Tyler had match point twice in the waning moments of the match at the 14-12 and 15-14 marks of the fifth set, but were finally able to secure the 3-2 victory with two straight points to win 17-15 in the frame. UT Tyler had to overcome 31 attacking errors as a team thanks in large part to a historic effort from Ware and 12 kills from both Evelyn Torres and Jeorgia Jones. Ware broke the UT Tyler volleyball record for kills in a single season, eclipsing Danika Waldrep's previous mark of 444 kills in the fourth set. The Patriots punched their ticket to Friday night's semifinals and a meeting with no. 1 seed and host West Texas A&M at 7:30 p.m.

WHAT COACH MASHE IS SAYING

On the marathon that was the 3-2 quarterfinal win over Texas A&M-Kingsville.. "We did play really, really well in the first two sets. I don't think it was so much that we relaxed, but we just didn't connect as well and Texas A&M-Kingsville started to play better. They started getting aggressive and swinging at everything and we were having a hard time stopping them. At the end of the day I thought our team did a really great job of just responding and piecing together a great win in the fifth set."

On riding the emotions of the seniors performance in the match whenever adversity came... "I thought our seniors did an incredible job of leading our team tonight. Just their fire, their passion, and the refuse to lose mentality that they had to just try and will their team. I really felt like our team just followed them in those moments. I'm just so proud of them."

On the difficult task awaiting the Patriots in the semifinals against West Texas A&M on their home floor... "Obviously we're going to get an incredible game from them. We have not had many matches against West Texas A&M that haven't been just all out physical and emotional incredible volleyball games. We're expecting that and I expect our team to rise up and just embrace what this match means to get to the championship game and for regional implications as well."

THE MATCH UP

West Texas A&M enters Friday's match ranked no. 11 in the AVCA National Top 25 Coaches Poll and claimed the 2022 Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship with a perfect 16-0 record in league play in the regular season. The Lady Buffs made quick work of no. 8 seed Angelo State in their quarterfinal match on Thursday night with a 3-0 win, and will have the advantage of their home crowd inside "The Box." UT Tyler and West Texas A&M met twice during the regular season, a 3-0 sweep in UT Tyler's favor in non-conference play on Sept. 10th in San Angelo, Texas, and then a 3-2 win in West Texas A&M's favor in LSC play on their home floor on Sept. 17th. The Lady Buffs sit no. 2 in the NCAA South Central Regional Rankings, and will be looking to defend both their 2021 Lone Star Conference Championship Title and 2021 South Central Regional Tournament Title over the next two weeks. The all-time series sits dead even at 3-3 entering Friday night.

THE BRACKET



TICKETS

Single-session passes for the 2022 Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship are now available through the West Texas A&M Athletic Ticket Office and TicketReturn. Single-session passes are $5 for adults and free children under 3-years-old and for university students with valid school I.D. (any institution). 

POSTSEASON HISTORY

UT Tyler volleyball made a third straight appearance in the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament after securing the no. 4 seed in the field with a 12-4 record in LSC play on the year. The 2022 version of the tournament will take place inside the WTAMU Fieldhouse, formally known as "The Box", and the home of the West Texas A&M Lady Buffs. This year's event will be just an eight-team bracket, contested over the course of Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Patriots have seen mixed results in their previous two trips to the LSC Tournament in the Spring of 2021 season and the 2021 season last fall, having advanced all the way to the championship match on their home court in the Spring of 2021 tournament, and then dropping a 3-2 upset loss at the hands of St. Edward's last season. Overall the Patriots are 4-2 all-time in the LSC Tournament, and 9-15 all-time in conference championship tournaments as a program.

POSTSEASON HONORS FOR THE PATS

Senior Mikayla Ware was named the 2022 Lone Star Conference Player of the Year as UT Tyler volleyball collected nine accolades on the 2022 LSC Volleyball All-Conference Awards list as announced by the conference office on Wednesday evening. Ware is the first representative from UT Tyler volleyball to earn a Player of the Year designation, and becomes the first two-time All-Lone Star Conference First Team selection in program history as well. Savannah Guzman, Evelyn Torres and Maiya Peña all earned All-LSC Second Team honors, and Dakota Rogers-Hurtado and Adeline Ortman received All-LSC Honorable Mention honors. Ortman and Ware were each named to the LSC Volleyball All-Academic Team as to round out the awards for the Patriots.

STAYING AT NO. 7 ENTERING THE POSTSEASON

The University of Texas at Tyler volleyball program stayed at no. 7 for the second week in a row in the third edition of the 2022 NCAA South Central Region Rankings as announced by the NCAA on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday's rankings are the final edition of the regional rankings released prior to the announcement of the NCAA Division II Volleyball National Tournament field on Sunday, Nov. 13^th via an online selection show. UT Tyler didn't see any movement after last week's edition of the rankings and sits 19-8 on the year heading into the weekend's 2022 Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament. The winners of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) and Lone Star Conference (LSC) Championship Tournaments will receive the two available automatic qualifying bids into the tournament, while the final six teams of the eight-team South Central Regional Tournament field will be at-large bids determined by the NCAA selection committee. That South Central Regional Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 17-19 at the no. 1 seed's host site.

ONE OF THE BEST OFFENSIVE SEASONS IN PATRIOT VOLLEYBALL HISTORY

Senior Mikayla Ware reached a historic mark on Thursday night against Texas A&M-Kingsville, eclipsing Danika Waldrep's previous school record mark of 444 kills in a season. Ware has 454 kills and counting in 2022, and also holds the season record for most kills per set with 4.54.

CLIMBING UP THE RECORD BOOKS

A host of Patriots enter the postseason near the top of the all-time record marks in the UT Tyler volleyball record books. Savannah Guzman ranks second all-time in program history with 1,625 career digs, and is one of just three Patriots to have eclipsed the 1,500 career dig mark in the history of the program. Mikayla Ware sits fourth all-time in the UT Tyler record books with 916 career kills, and holds the best kills per set average in the history of the program with an average of 3.93 per set. Hattie Murray ranks fifth all-time with 211 career blocks, and in the top 10 in program history in both solo blocks (38) and block assists (173). Maiya Peña also ranks as one of the best blockers in the history of the program, ranking seventh all-time with 193 total blocks, and has the second-best career hitting percentage at .334. Hannah Callison's quality play over the last few weeks allowed her to climb within the top-10 all-time in career kills, ranking eighth with 742 for her career.

STAT CHECK

UT Tyler ranks third in the Lone Star Conference with a team hitting percentage of .218 for the year, and fourth in the league with an average of 13.59 kills per set. Defensively the Patriots have limited their opposition to a .166 hitting percentage in 2022, fourth best in the LSC, and average 1.90 blocks per set. Ware leads the Lone Star Conference in points per set (5.03) and kills per set (4.54). She ranks sixth in all of Division II volleyball in kills per set and points per set. Sophomore Adeline Ortman ranks fifth in the LSC with an average of 0.38 service aces per set, and fifth in the league with an average of 7.44 assists per set.

COACH MASHE

Head coach Lyndsay Mashe is in the midst of her seventh season as the program's all-time winningest coach with 128 wins as head coach of the Patriots. Mashe is 128-48 (.726) as the leader of the Patriots. The 2021 Spring Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year is now 321-170 (.654) as a collegiate head coach after six seasons at UT Tyler and 10 seasons at East Texas Baptist.