CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M Lady Buffs will make their 28^th appearance in the NCAA Division II Volleyball Postseason on Thursday afternoon as they take on No. 8 Colorado School of Mines in the opening round of the South Central Regional Championships.  First serve is set for 3:30 p.m. CT at the Auraria Event Center in Denver, Colo. 
 
Masks are required at the regional tournament regardless of vaccination status.  MSU Denver's CoVID-19 game protocols can be found here. 
 
A LOOK AT THE BRACKET
MSU Denver (26-3) claimed the top seed and will host the regional tournament followed by Colorado School of Mines (26-3), Colorado Mesa (21-6), Angelo State (23-4), Regis (20-7), UT Tyler (19-3), WT (23-4), and CSU Pueblo (20-8). 
 
The winner of Thursday's match will advance to the regional semifinals where they will face the winner of sixth-seeded UT Tyler and third-seeded Colorado Mesa on Friday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. CT with the regional championship match is set for 8:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. 
 
LIVE COVERAGE
Live stats and stream will be available for the South Central Regional Championships provided by the MSU Denver athletic communications department.   For more information visit GoBuffsGo.com.
 
TICKETS
Day passes can be purchased online at RoadrunnerAthletics.com.  Tickets for the general public can be purchased for $12 while seniors (65+), students (12+ with ID) and youth (6-11) can be purchased for $6.  
 
THE OREDIGGERS
The No. 8 Orediggers enter the regional tournament with an overall record of 26-3 as they claimed the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tournament title with a 3-2 upset over No. 1 MSU Denver. 
 
Jamie Magalei is now in her 14th season at the helm in Golden as she has led the Orediggers to an overall mark of 318-101 with 11 consecutive trips to the NCAA Postseason including a run to the Sweet 16. 
 
Mines is led offensively by Taylor Hicken who has registered 334 kills on 624 swings with 66 attack errors to hit .429 on the season, averaging 3.24 kills and 3.92 points per match so far this season. RMAC Setter of the Year paces the offense with 1,220 assists to average 11.8 per frame while Elle Duis leads the way in the back row with 471 digs (4.57/set).
 
THE LAST MEETING
Thursday's match marks the fifth meeting between the two programs with WT leading the all-time series 4-0.  In their last matchup, the Lady Buffs defeated the Orediggers, 3-1, to advance to the regional championship match where WT went on to defeat Angelo State to claim the program's 12^th regional title.
 
LUCKY NUMBER 28
WT, who received the Lone Star Conference's automatic bid, heads to the NCAA Tournament for the 28^th time in program history with the Lady Buffs earning the seventh seed as selected by the NCAA selection committee on Nov. 22
 
ONCE AGAIN… CHAMPIONS
The Lady Buffs claimed their 16^th Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship title after sweeping past St. Edward's on Nov. 20.  WT defeated Oklahoma Christian and UT Permian Basin to advance to the championship match.  Torrey Miller, Chandler Vogel and Kayla Elliott were each selected to the All-Tournament Team while Miller earned MVP honors. 
 
Miller finished the championship match with 14 kills on 38 swings to hit .237 with five errors to go along with 11 digs for her 12^th double-double of the season.  Elliott recorded seven kills with a team-high eight blocks against the Hilltoppers while Vogel collected 60 total digs through three matches.  Freshman Blair Moreland dished out 23 assists to pace the Lady Buffs offense and Abi Nash led the back row, posting a team-high 17 digs.  
 
ALL-REGION SELECTIONS
Chandler Vogel and Torrey Miller were each selected to the D2CCA and AVCA All-South Central Teams on Wednesday afternoon for the second time in their careers. Vogel will go down in the record books as one of the best liberos to take the court for the Lady Buffs as the all-time digs leader now has totaled 2,591 career digs while Miller ranks 16^th all-time in the record books with 1,022 career kills and 19^thwith 1,154.5 points.
 
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
The Lady Buffs enter the tournament 23-4 overall after claiming the conference title. WT are hitting .249 as a team with the Lady Buffs averaging 13.7 kills per set and limiting opponents to hit .099 which ranks fourth in Division II.  As a team, WT collects 12.7 assists, 1.5 aces, 17.7 digs, and 2.4 blocks per set.  
 
Torrey Miller has a team-high 4.47 points per set as the sophomore averages 3.95 kills followed by Kayla Elliott with 2.98 (pt/s) with a team-high 29 aces.  Junior Sadie Snay and freshman Blair Moreland pace the offense with Snay averaging 5.56 assists per match and Moreland 5.54 while Chandler Vogel records a team-high 4.94 digs. 
 
WELCOME TO THE BLOCK PARTY!
WT has collected 201 blocks on the season averaging 2.40 which ranks 16^th in the nation led by Kayla Elliott and Marjani Stanfill.  The two middle blockers have combined for 154 blocks Stanfill holding a team-high 84.    
 
ALL-TIME GREAT
Vogel became the program's all-time digs leader after moving past former Lady Buff standout Lauren Beville who played from 2009-2012 and registered 2,423 digs.  The Hereford product picked up 60 digs at the Lone Star Conference Championships and now has moved her career total to 2,591. 
 
WT HEAD COACH KENDRA POTTS
Kendra Potts didn't take long to earn a championship ring as the third-year coach is now 55-15 with a Lone Star Conference Championship title.  Potts leads her alma mater into the NCAA Tournament for the second time in her career after leading WT to the South Central Regional Quarterfinals in 2019 to become just the fourth head coach in program history to guide WT to the NCAA Tournament during their first season.