#8 West Texas A&M (25-4) vs. UT Tyler (18-8)
Date & Time	Friday, December 6th at 1:30 p.m.
Location	San Angelo, Texas | Junell Center
Live Statistics	StatBroadcast
Live Video (Pay Per View)	FloCollege
Other Links	Game Notes | Tournament Central

CANYON. Texas – The #8 Lady Buffs begin the defense of their South Central Regional Championship on Friday afternoon as they take on LSC rival and seventh-seeded UT Tyler in the quarterfinal round with first serve set for 1:30 p.m. at Stephens Arena inside of the Junell Center in San Angelo, Texas.
 

• West Texas A&M, winners of the last three NCAA South Central Regional Championships, enter the program's 31st NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 65-26 (.707) in the NCAA postseason
• The Lady Buffs fell three spots to eighth in the newest edition of the AVCA/TARAFLEX Division II Top-25 Poll announced on Monday, November 25th.
• The 65 victories by the Lady Buffs in the NCAA Tournament is the third most in Division II Volleyball history behind only Tampa (85) and Concordia-St. Paul (80).
• WT ranks 7th in the nation in attack percentage (.275), 11th in kills per set (14.19), 19th in assists per set (12.97) and 35th in blocks per set (2.30). Taytum Stow is 16th in the nation in blocks per set (1.30) while sitting 19th in total blocks (133) and 41st in attack percentage (.353).
• The Lady Buffs are 8-3 all-time against UT Tyler including 2-0 in the NCAA Tournament

UT TYLER
The Patriots enter the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 18-18 as they finished Lone Star Conference play with a mark of 14-2 to finish third in the league standings. UT Tyler advanced to the LSC Semifinals before falling to eventual champion Angelo State in a five-set thriller at The Box in Canyon on November 22nd. 
 
Lyndsay Mashe is now in her ninth season at the helm of the UT Tyler volleyball program, leading the program to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances during the first four years of Division II postseason eligibility for UTT. The Patriots are 72-23 since joining Division II, spending 33 weeks ranked inside of the AVCA Top-25 Poll.
 
Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year Kota Hartman leads the way offensively for the Patriots as the junior outside from Decatur, Texas has registered 392 kills on 1,111 swings with 142 errors for an attack percentage of .225 to average 3.92 kills per set to go along with 11 assists, five aces, 121 digs and 24 blocks as the transfer from Lehigh averages 4.11 points per set.
 
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Friday afternoon marks the 12th all-time meeting between the Lady Buffs and Patriots in a series that dates back to 2019. WT holds an 8-3 advantage in the series as the Lady Buffs have won the past six meeting. Earlier this season, WT picked up a straight-set win on the road in Tyler (27-25, 25-18, 25-21) on October 19th. Friday is the third meeting during the NCAA Tournament between the two teams as WT ended the Patriots' season in 2021 and 2023.
 
LADY BUFFS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
The Lady Buffs are making the program's 31st appearance in the NCAA Tournament, winning the South Central Regional Title in each of the last three seasons. The 31 trips are the fifth most in Division II history behind Tampa (39), New Haven (37), Central Missouri (36) and Florida Southern (34). The Lady Buffs are 65-26 (.707) all-time in the NCAA Tournament with four National Championships (1990, 1991, 1997, 2022). The 65 victories by the Lady Buffs in the NCAA Tournament is the third most in DII Volleyball history behind only Tampa (85) and Concordia-St. Paul (80).
 
ALL-REGION ACCOLADES
West Texas A&M's Emma Becker, Bryli Contreras and Taytum Stow were honored for their efforts on the court on Wednesday afternoon as they claimed All-Region accolades from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Stow was also named to the D2CCA All-Region First Team.
 
Becker and Stow were named to the AVCA South Central Region First Team while Contreras claimed Honorable Mention honors. Becker and Stow now move onto the national ballot for potential AVCA All-American accolades while Stow is also on the D2CCA All-American ballot at middle blocker.
 
A NEW ERA
For the first time since the 2019 season, the Lady Buffs are under the guidance of a new head coach as Brittany Harry was named the 16th leader of WT Volleyball on March 19, 2024.
 
Harry was named the 2024 Lone Star Conference of the Year after leading the Lady Buffs to a perfect 16-0 mark in league action to win the program's 22nd regular season league title. The unbeaten mark in LSC play marked the 16th time the Lady Buffs had a flawless league record.
 
Harry, the 2022 LSC Coach of the Year, served as the head coach at Texas A&M International for four seasons. In 2022, Harry set a program record with 23 victories to lead the Dustdevils into the LSC postseason for the second time in school history. She led her team to the best turnaround in all of NCAA Division II volleyball with a +18 win differential from 2021 to 2022.
 
LADY BUFFS IN THE AVCA POLL
The Lady Buffs are ranked eighth in this week's edition of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division II Top-25 Poll. It marks the 315th time since 1986 that the Lady Buffs appear in the poll, the sixth most in Division II history. WT has sat atop of the poll 28 different times.
 
THIS DAY IN WT VOLLEYBALL HISTORY
The Lady Buffs are 1-1 all-time in matches played on December 6th.
 
2012 - vs. BYU-Hawaii (L, 3-2) - NCAA National Quarterfinals - Pensacola, FL
2013 - vs. Regis (W, 3-0) - NCAA Regional Semifinals - Canyon, TX
 
PLAYING IN THE CONCHO VALLEY
The Lady Buffs make their way to San Angelo for the South Central Regional Championships for the first time. Angelo State will host the program's second NCAA Tournament, the first since 2016. West Texas A&M is 39-16 all-time in the Concho Valley.
 
WT opponents in San Angelo: Abilene Christian (3-0), Angelo State (23-15), Eastern New Mexico (1-0), Florida Southern (1-0), Lubbock Christian (1-0), Midwestern State (1-0), Missouri-St. Louis (1-0), Oklahoma Christian (1-0), St. Edward's (1-0), Tarleton State (1-0), Texas A&M-Commerce (1-0), Texas A&M-Kingsville (1-0), Texas Lutheran (1-0), Texas Woman's (1-0), UT Permian Basin (1-0) and UT Tyler (0-1).
 
ONE LAST RIDE
The 2024 version of the Lady Buffs features eight seniors. Camy Jones is closing out her fifth season, winning three Regional Titles and registering an overall record of 127-21. Blair Moreland's four-year record with the Lady Buffs is 117-17 while Zahria Parker, Ainsley Malis, Bryli Contreras and Angelina Oliver came to Canyon in 2022, winning a National Championship and holding a mark of 91-12. Brynne Wright is 58-8 over the last two years while Getsemani Carrasco joined the Lady Buffs for her final collegiate season this past summer.