SAN ANGELO, Texas (Volleyball) – Texas A&M University-Kingsville (26-9, 14-6 LSC) will play its first ever postseason match against top seeded No. 12 Angelo State University (31-3, 18-2) in the first round of the NCAA South Central Regional tournament on Thursday, December 1 at 7:30 p.m. at the Junell Center.

Live stats and video will be made available free of charge on JavelinaAthletics.com.

The last time we saw the Javelinas, it was in a 1-3 (24-26, 25-23, 13-25, 16-25) loss to Tarleton State in the LSC Championships semifinals in Stephens Arena. They now return to same arena to matchup against the nationally ranked Rambelles for the third time this season. TAMUK has been well-balanced all season long as they rank fourth in the nation in total kills (1,706), total assists (1,602) and total blocks (298). In addition to those statistics, they also lead the conference with 225 service aces, 2,119 total team digs and 1.72 aces per set. 

Krystal Faison leads the way with 416 kills and 53 aces, while also totaling 476 digs and 46 blocks. She is followed closely by 2016 South Central All-Region First Team selection Lexi Wick who has registered 365 kills and 46 aces, but leads the Lone Star Conference with 139 total blocks including 38 solo blocks. Senior Ashley Bukowski has 309 kills and 348 digs this season and the sophomore tandem of Madison Brabham and Haley Hutchinson rounds out the top hitters with 246 kills and 185 kills with 94 and 135 total blocks, respectively. Casey Klobedans sits atop the league with 1,366 assists in 2016 and adds 85 kills, 52 blocks and 33 aces to her player card. Libero Krystal Puente leads the club with 534 digs.

Back-to-back LSC Tournament Champions Angelo State hosts the South Central Regionals Tournament for the second consecutive season and are backed by four 2016 South Central All-Region Team selections— the most of any team in the region. Angelo States has a perfect 17-0 record at home and leads the LSC in hitting percentage (.269), while holding their opponents to the lowest hitting percentage in the conference at .136.

Mallory Blauser leads the club with 482 kills and 35 aces this season. Brianna Sotello is next, finding the floor 345 times in 2016 and adds 44 blocks and 26 aces and 44. Abbie Lynn has gathered 254 kills and 50 blocks, Morgan Seaton has 229 kills with a team leading 100 blocks and Tulani Titley has 146 kills with 76 total blocks this season.

Angelo State defeated Texas A&M-Kingsville in its two meetings this season, both in straight sets to move the all-time series record to 40-12 in favor of the Belles. The winner of the first round match between the Lone Star Conference members will face the winner between No. 20 Colorado Mines and RV Arkansas-Fort Smith on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The championship match will take place at 3 p.m. on Saturday with the regional winner advancing to the Elite Eight on December 8-10 in Sioux Falls, S.D. 

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