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Tournament Central CANYON – With the postseason awards banquet in the rearview mirror, Tarleton State turns its attention to the next task at hand – competing in the LSC Championship Tournament Thursday at 5 p.m. against Texas A&M-Kingsville.
AT A GLANCE
Records: Tarleton State TexAnns, 20-7 (10-6 LSC); Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas, 18-12 (7-9 LSC)
Game Coverage: Live Stats and an online video feed of the game can be found at LoneStarConference.org or by following the links on the volleyball schedule of TarletonSports.com.
LAST TIME OUT
Tarleton enters the postseason tournament on the heels of a five-set heartbreaker to Angelo State Friday night in the regular season finale at the Junell Center.
Hailey Roberts recorded her 15th double-double of the season with a 22-kill, 18-dig performance in the loss while
Emily Medlin posted her second career double-double with a team-high 30 assists and 17 digs. Alexander was one kill shy of her third double-double with nine kills and a career-high 13 blocks.
TARLETON vs TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE
Thursday is the 43rd all-time meeting between the TexAnns and Javelinas and Tarleton leads the all-time meeting 22-20, dating back to the inaugural meeting in 1985. The Javelinas jumped out to an early lead in the series (17-10), but Tarleton has reversed the trend of late by winning 11 of the last 15 meetings, including a sweeps in Stephenville and in Kingsville earlier this season.
TEXANNS AND JAVELINAS IN THE TOURNAMENT
The is the third time Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Kingsville have met in the opening round of the LSC Tournament and the postseason series is split 1-1. These two teams met in Tarleton's first-ever LSC Tournament berth in 1995 when the Javelinas won in four sets. Tarleton got its revenge when the teams met 17 years later in 2012 and the TexAnns ended Kingsville's season with a five-set win in San Angelo.
POSTSEASON AWARDS
Tarleton had four athletes recognized in the annual postseason awards banquet Wednesday night.
Hailey Roberts and
Kenya Alexander were named the Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, respectively. Roberts and Alexander was first-team All-LSC while
Katie Covell was second-team all-conference.
Kaitlyn White was honorable mention and academic all-conference. Roberts is the first TexAnn to win Freshman of the Year since Desiree Reed in 2002 while and Alexander is only the second Defensive Player of the Year in program history, joining All-American Nikki McNorton who won the award in 2012. For Covell, this marks the career sweep of all-conference accolades, marking the fourth straight season with an all-LSC selection.
TARLETON IN THE TOURNAMENT
In the 10th year under head coach
Mary Schindler, Tarleton State is making its eighth appearance – and the ninth appearance in the school's NCAA history. Schindler has led the TexAnns to the postseason tournament and to the semifinals in each of the last four seasons. Tarleton's only quarterfinal exit under Schindler came in 2007.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
Tarleton is playing for a chance to play in the NCAA playoffs for the first time in school history. The TexAnns are currently the No. 6 team in the South Central region behind Colorado Mesa, Colorado Mines, Regis (Colo.) and West Texas A&M. The top eight teams in the regional rankings at the end of conference tournament championship weekend will advance to the NCAA postseason. The conference tournament champions are guaranteed an automatic berth into the playoffs, which could affect the rankings if a non-regionally ranked team wins their respective tournament and earned the berth.
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
The TexAnns will await their fate into the NCAA volleyball tournament for the first time in school history. The NCAA playoff selection show will be broadcast on ncaa.com Sunday November 16
th at 9 p.m. where the top eight seeds in the South Central region will receive an invitation to play for the National Championship.
