DENVER, COLO. – The University of Texas at Tyler volleyball team's second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II National Volleyball Tournament came to a close with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-18) loss in the quarterfinals of the South Central Regional Tournament.
 
The Patriots finish the 2022 season with a record of 20-10 overall, securing back-to-back seasons of 20-plus wins that resulted in appearances in the South Central Regional Tournament. UT Tyler volleyball is 54-15 over the course of the last three seasons, and will graduate a core of seniors in Mikayla Ware, Savannah Guzman, Hannah Callison, Hattie Murray and Kylee Becker that finish their careers as one of the most successful classes in the history of the program.
 
UT Tyler earned the no. 7 seed in the South Central Regional Tournament after a second-straight at-large bid into the field, but were unable to pull off an upset in the quarterfinals inside the Auraria Event Center for a second-straight year. No. 2 seeded West Texas A&M extended their winning streak to 21 straight matches with the 3-0 win, the last five of which have come in three-set victories.
 
Senior Mikayla Ware, who was named the 2022 Lone Star Conference Player of the Year and a D2CCA All-South Central Region and All-Lone Star Conference First Team selection, finished her UT Tyler career with 12 kills in the quarterfinal match against the Lady Buffs. Ware completes her career in a UT Tyler volleyball with the fourth-most kills in a career with 925, and finishes the 2022 season with the single most individual kills in a season in the history of the program with 475.
 
Libero Savannah Guzman had 10 digs on Thursday afternoon to finish with 1,628 career digs, second most all-time in the program record books and is just the third Patriot to eclipse the 1,500 career dig mark in a career.
 
West Texas A&M, the defending South Central Region Champions, showed that they will be a favorite to repeat their regional title in Thursday's quarterfinal match, posting a team hitting percentage of .307 for the match. UT Tyler managed 31 kills in the match on 120 swings, consistently finding it difficult to score against the Lady Buffs defensive effort.
 
Sophomore Addison Evans paced the Patriot defensive output with 11 digs, joining Guzman with a double-digit dig total.
 
West Texas A&M will advance to Friday night's first semifinal match scheduled for a 5 p.m. MST start time against the winner of the no. 3 Regis and no. 6 Colorado School of Mines match.