SAN ANGELO, TEXAS – UT Tyler volleyball will have plenty to hang their hat on this season after their season came to a close on Friday with a 3-0 loss to West Texas A&M in the opening round of the NCAA South Central Region Tournament.
 
The Patriots made their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in just their fourth year of Division II eligibility and placed third in the LSC regular season after a phenomenal season that will end at 18-9 overall.
 
The Patriots looked strong early, running out to a 10-3 lead over the Lady Buffs behind an offensive slugfest powered by Kota Hartman, Jackie Velzis, and Dakota Rogers-Hurtado, who each had two kills in the run.
 
They remained out in front by a score of 15-9, but the Lady Buffs continued to close the gap and went on a 7-1 run to make it 17-16 in their favor. The two teams would then battle back and forth over the remainder of the set, with both teams each taking a two point lead but the other side won two straight to cover it back up. The first set would go to an extra point, but the Lady Buffs narrowly pulled out a 26-24 win to lead 1-0.
 
In set two, both sides were nearly deadlocked to begin action, as the biggest lead for either team was only two points before they knotted back up at 8-8. The Patriots then took over, as Autumn Perry got in on the action as she knocked down her fourth kill of the set to make it an 11-8 advantage for the Patriots.
 
Makhai Lewis and Hartman continued the onslaught, bringing down another pair of big kills to make it 13-9 and force the Lady Buffs into a timeout. That timeout seemed to flip the script for the Lady Buffs, as they went on an 11-2 run to make it 20-15.
 
A timeout from the Patriots seemed to right the ship, as they got back into the set behind kills from Velzis, Rogers-Hurtado, and Lewis, and a key block from Perry as they cut the lead back to one at 22-21.
 
The Lady Buffs would score two straight to force set point, but the Patriots responded with four straight points as Makhai Lewis took over the game and brought the Patriots back in front at 25-24. West Texas A&M would capitalize on an error and then put together a kill to close out the set at 27-25.
 
In the third set of the day, both teams again didn't give an inch in the opening points, as there were four different ties up to 5-5 to open up play. From that 5-5 tie however, the Lady Buffs found their stride, opening up a seven point lead at 13-6.
 
Needing to dig deep, the Patriots slowly dug themselves back into the contest, capitalizing on errors from the Lady Buffs and key kills from Rogers-Hurtado, Velzis, and Perry to cut the lead down to 15-12.
 
The lead would swell again to seven points, and the Patriots put together one more run to cut the lead down to four points, but it would not be enough as the Lady Buffs closed out the set at 25-17 to take the match.
 
Makhai Lewis led the team with 10 kills on the day on a .400 percentage while adding four total blocks. Perry added nine kills and Hartman, Velzis, and Rogers-Hurtado each delivered seven kills.
 
Saige Rivera chipped in 40 assists for the contest and Addison Evans added a team-high 12 digs.