They're back.

UAFS earned its eighth-consecutive appearance in the Heartland Conference Volleyball Tournament title match on Friday night as the No. 3 seed Lady Lions swept the No. 2 seed St. Mary's Rattlers at the Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock, Texas.

The Lady Lions won the match 25-20, 25-20, 25-13 to advance to Saturday's title match and will play the No. 4 seed St. Edward's Hilltoppers at 1 p.m. The winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II National Tournament. Live statistics and live stream will be available.

St. Edward's upset regular-season champion and No. 1 seed Lubbock Christian in five sets in the first match of the tournament on Friday. The Hilltoppers also were one of only two teams to beat the Lady Chaps in regular-season conference play with the other being the Lady Lions.

It will be the third match of the season between UAFS and St. Edward's. The two teams split the regular-season series with each team winning in five sets on their opponent's home court. It will be the fourth time the two teams have met in the championship match, and UAFS won the previous three meetings.

UAFS (19-11) beat St. Mary's (14-15) for the first time this season. The Rattlers beat the Lady Lions in four sets at the Stubblefield Center and in three sets at Bill Greehey Arena in San Antonio, Texas.

The Lady Lions denied the Rattlers an opportunity to defend their conference tournament title. St. Mary's beat UAFS in three sets in last season's title match to snap the Lady Lions' streak of three-consecutive conference tournament titles.

UAFS hit at a 0.270 clip with 46 kills on 115 attempts with 15 errors. Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Williams sparked the Lady Lions' offense, collecting a team-high 16 kills while compiling a sizzling 0.417 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Anna Demmer had 14 kills.

Freshman setter Taylor Stoops had 37 assists, and Demmer served the Lady Lions' only ace.

St. Mary's had 11 total blocks with freshman middle hitter Rachel McDonald leading the way with seven block assists. The Rattlers had 53 digs with senior libero Monica Ramon collecting 15 digs.

UAFS shut down St. Mary's offense, holding the Rattlers to a paltry 0.107 hitting percentage with 30 kills on 112 attempts with 18 errors. Freshman outside hitter Alissa Tolbert was the only Rattler to collect double-digit kills, finishing with 10 kills.

Junior setter Bree Perry had 15 assists, and she and Tolbert each served one of the Rattlers' two aces.

UAFS had six total blocks. Senior middle hitter Debra Rogers had three block assists, and junior middle hitter Brylee Burroughs had one solo block and two block assists. UAFS had 54 digs with freshman Pilar Onstad accounting for 25 of them.