STEPHENVILLE – For the first time in school history, Tarleton State University is headed to the NCAA South Central regional playoffs as the Lone Star Conference Tournament Champions.
 
The TexAnns, who notched their first trip to the championship game of the conference tournament by rallying back from an 11-5 deficit to West Texas A&M in the semifinals, pulled off another five-set thriller in Saturday's tournament finale to down Angelo State and clinch the crown.
 
"We had a long road to get here, but I am so excited – exhausted, but excited," said head coach Mary Schindler. "We knew it would be a very competitive road. We had to beat a team three times in one season, which is always tough to do, and then we had to beat West Texas A&M in The Box. The WT game was one the girls really wanted and they really embraced the moment.
 
"Today, we were emotionally drained after last night but they kept their composure and that was huge," she continued. "It's has just been an exciting weekend."
 
After taking over the Tarleton program with just a .436 winning percent in the 28 years of volleyball before her arrival, Mary Schindler has turned the TexAnns into a perennial contender in the Lone Star Conference with six LSC postseason tournament trips in her 10 seasons. Now she can add other accomplishments to her resume – tournament champion and national playoff team.
 
"The last two days have been a whirlwind," said Schindler. "I've never finished a match and had so many messages. The support of our fans and athletics department has been amazing. This has always been a goal of ours in the last 10 years and it has finally happened. We've always known we could play at this level. These girls truly believed they could do it and they never faltered from that belief."
 
Tarleton opened the first set with an 8-5 lead before Angelo pushed back for a 12-9 advantage before a block from Jasmyne Brown and Ashley Rine turned the tide to start a 15-4 Tarleton run to lead 24-16. The Rambelles scored four straight but Hailey Roberts put the game away to go up 1-0 in the match.
 
Angelo State rebounded to take the next two sets – the second after leading the whole way and the third with a late run down the stretch – but Tarleton refused to give in and opened the fourth set with a 15-10 advantage.
 
After the Rambelles pulled to 15-13, Roberts landed another kill to start the game-clinching 10-6 run to force a second straight fifth set with everything on the line.
 
Unlike the semifinal match which saw Tarleton behind 11-5, the TexAnns fell behind just 4-3 before a kill from Kenya Alexander evened things up at 4-4 and an Angelo error gave Tarleton the lead that they would never relinquish en route to a 15-11 win.
 
Roberts had 19 kills and 11 digs while Alexander landed 11 kills and had nine blocks. Katie Covell led the team with 17 digs while Emily Medlin (31) and Chandler Gow (21) combined for 52 assists.
 
With the LSC Championship under its belt, Tarleton State receives an automatic bid into the NCAA South Central Regional tournament next week. The exact details of tournament will be announced at the NCAA selection show on NCAA.com Sunday at 9 p.m.