CANYON, TEXAS – No. 8 seeded UT Tyler fell by a 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-18) final tally on Thursday night to no. 1 seeded West Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of the 2023 NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament.
 
The Patriots conclude the 2023 season on the heels of a third straight appearance in the NCAA Division II National Tournament with a 17-12 overall record. West Texas A&M seized control of the match in the early stages behind an electric crowd inside "The Box" and never looked back, hitting .392 as a team with 47 kills on 102 swings.
 
UT Tyler was led offensively by freshman Shaye Koski and sophomore Jeorgia Jones, who combined for nearly half of the 33 kills by the Patriots for the night. Koski went for nine kills to lead the way and Jones put down seven kills on just 12 swings.
 
Jones didn't commit a single error in the match and posted a .583 hitting percentage for the evening.
 
West Texas A&M led 8-3 to open the match in the first set and then padded a 19-9 advantage in the late stages of the frame after a 9-3 run. The Lady Buffs committed just seven attacking errors as a unit, and went for kill totals of 15, 16 and 16.
 
Set two was tight throughout the early stages before West Texas A&M went on a 6-2 run coming out of the 11-10 mark and then closed out the frame with four unanswered points to win 25-17.
 
The Lady Buffs opened the third and final set with a 7-1 advantage, but UT Tyler managed to cut the lead to just 20-17 after a resilient effort in what would be the final frame. West Texas A&M answered with a 5-1 run to close out the match and advance to tomorrow's semifinal.
 
The Lady Buffs will meet DBU tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. in that semifinal match-up.
 
UT Tyler hit .154 as a team with 33 kills on 117 swings.
 
Libero Addison Evans led UT Tyler with 12 digs, while defensive specialist Makayla Villarreal added in 11 digs.