SEGUIN, Texas – With the help of a Tuesday night Hardin-Simmons road loss to Howard Payne, the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs won at least a share of their eighth American Southwest Conference West Division Championship in 11 years.

TLU (15-10, 14-4 ASC West) and HSU (16-7, 12-4 ASC West) are tied in the loss column for the division lead. HSU can tie TLU for the ASC West Division title with victories in HSU's two remaining contests - home matches in Abilene, Texas against Schreiner and Sul Ross State on Friday and Saturday, respectively. TLU has concluded its conference schedule.

If both teams finish with 14-4 division marks, TLU and HSU will be ASC West Division co-champions. However, TLU holds the tie-breaker over HSU for the purpose of deciding the conference tournament host.

With the tie-breaker already in hand, TLU will host the 2010 ASC Championship Tournament on Nov. 5-6 in Seguin, Texas. Susan Duke Court in TLU's Tostengard Activity Center will serve as the host site. The six-team, single-elimination conference tournament will determine the ASC's automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship.

Live video, audio, stats and chat will be available for all tournament matches from the TLU Athletics website - www.tlubulldogs.com.

The tournament schedule calls for four matches on Friday, Nov. 5. Hardin-Simmons, the ASC West No. 2 seed, will face the No. 3 seed from the ASC East (either University of Texas at Tyler, Mississippi College or East Texas Baptist) at noon Friday. The 2:30 p.m. match on Friday features the ASC West No. 3 seed (either McMurry or Schreiner) against No. 2 ASC East seed (either Texas-Tyler, Mississippi College or East Texas Baptist).

The 5 p.m. match on Friday, Nov. 5 features ASC East Champion University of Texas at Dallas and the winner of the noon Friday match. TLU will play the 7:30 p.m. Friday match against the winner of the 2:30 p.m. Friday match.

The Saturday, Nov. 6 championship match is set for a 5 p.m. start.

TLU and HSU split the two regular-season meetings between them, and each team swept a series with likely ASC West No. 3 seed McMurry. While TLU swept the season series with Schreiner (the likely ASC West fourth-place finisher), HSU has a loss to the Mountaineers this year.

Coached by fifth-year head coach Tiffany Davis, TLU was the third pick in the 2010 ASC West Division Preseason Poll. The Bulldogs have never finished below second in the ASC West since joining conference play in 2000.

The Bulldogs won ASC Championships in 2004 and 2007 and advanced to the NCAA DIII national tournament in those two seasons. The 2004 team advanced to the NCAA Division III “Sweet 16” and the South Region championship match. TLU's 2004 conference title was won in Seguin, and the 2007 title was won in Richardson, Texas on the campus of Texas-Dallas.

The Bulldogs have hosted the ASC Championship Tournament on three previous occasions.

The field and bracket for the ASC tournament will be announced Sunday on the conference's website, www.ASCsports.org.

-Courtesy Texas Lutheran University Sports Information Department