THE GAME
Tarleton State's historical run through its first-ever NCAA regional tournament will continue into the Round of 32 when the TexAnns square off with Arkansas-Fort Smith in the South Central semifinals Saturday at 5 p.m. MST / 6 p.m. CST in Grand Junction, Colo.
THE MAGIC
Tarleton State has put together a magical run into the record books and continues to rewrite TexAnn history with every win. This is Tarleton's first trip to the NCAA regional tournament, thusly the first-ever trip to the Round of 32.
THE BROADCAST
The game will have a live radio broadcast presented by the Tarleton Sports Network presented by North Texas Ford Dealers. The Voice of the TexAnns, Keltin Wiens, will serve as the play-by-play for Tarleton basketball this season. The radio broadcast can be heard on KTRL 90.5 FM in Stephenville and surrounding areas or online at TarletonSports.com/ListenLive. The pregame show will begin 15 minutes prior to tip-off.
THE OPPONENT
Arkansas-Fort Smith, the No. 7 seed in this tournament, is coming off a quarterfinal upset of No. 2 Colorado Mines. The Lions dropped the first two matches to the Orediggers before a furious comeback to take the next two sets 25-23, 25-23 and eventually take the final set in a 19-17 thriller at Brownson Arena. The last time Tarleton and Arkansas-Fort Smith met was in this season's opener at San Angelo when Tarleton topped UAFS in four sets for a season-opening win.
THE SERIES
Tarleton State and Arkansas-Fort Smith have met three times, all coming in the last three seasons including this season's opener in San Angelo. The Lions won the first two games against Tarleton before the TexAnns defeated the Lions earlier this season for their first win in the series history.
LSC TOURNAMENT RUN
Tarleton State ended West Texas' run of nine consecutive LSC Tournament Championships en route to winning the first conference title in school history. The TexAnns went to five-sets in both the semifinals and finals of the tournament. Against West Texas A&M in the semifinals, the TexAnns won the first two sets before falling in the next two and being forced to play from an 11-5 deficit in the fifth set. The TexAnns answered, however, and score 10 of the final 12 points to win the set and advance to their first championship appearance. In the finals, Tarleton rallied once again with after falling behind 2-1 in the match and coming back to win the fifth set and bring home the trophy.
LSC AWARD WINNERS
Hailey Roberts,
Kenya Alexander,
Katie Covell and
Kaitlyn White were all honored by the conference during last weekend's postseason tournament. Roberts and Alexander were named All-LSC first-team while
Katie Covell earned second-team honors and White was named honorable mention. Roberts was also named the LSC Freshman of the Year while Alexander garnered LSC Defensive Player of the Year recognition. Covell and White were also named to the LSC Championship All-Tournament team while Roberts was named the MVP of the Championship Tournament.
ALL-REGION HONORS
Hailey Roberts and
Kenya Alexander earned first-team all-region honors by Daktronics Wednesday afternoon, making them the first TexAnns to earn all-region honors as an NCAA institution.
HOT START TO THE SEASON
Tarleton opened the season with a record of 8-1, which was the second-best start to a season through the first nine games since starting the 2009 season 9-0.
COVELL HITS MILESTONE
Fifth-year senior
Katie Covell has exactly 1,500 digs for her career. She is currently third all-time in school history in digs and is just the third TexAnn to reach that plateau joining
Emily Klein (1,656) and Shea McBrearty (1,847).
TOPS IN THE NATION IN BLOCKS
Entering the tournament with 1.49 blocks per set,
Kenya Alexander is - officially - No. 2 in the nation in blocking. She trails only Callie Whetstone of Missouri Southern at 1.50. As a team, Tarleton is ranked No. 2 in the nation with 2.65 blocks per set behind only Northwest Nazarene at 2.78. After Friday's quarterfinal, Alexander improved to 1.52 per set.
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
With every win, Tarleton State will continue its season in the national playoffs. With a win, Tarleton would advance to the regional finals.
