UT Arlington's College Park Center was selected to host the 2016 Sun Belt Conference Championship, as announced by the conference office.

The Sun Belt Championship will be the first postseason volleyball tournament on the UT Arlington since hosting the Southland Conference Tournament in 1999 at Texas Hall.

"It is really exciting news,"UT Arlington coach Diane Seymour said."We have a rich volleyball history here. It will be great for our players and fans to showcase College Park Center, and the talented players in the Sun Belt Conference to volleyball enthusiasts in the area."

College Park Center seats 7,000 for athletic events and opened in February of 2012. The $78 million, 218,000-square-foot facility is a transformational jewel for the campus of 33,500 students and a catalyst for revitalization in the city's central business district.

"We're proud to showcase our volleyball program and College Park Center with the 2016 Sun Belt Championship,"UT Arlington athletics director Jim Baker said."We're committed to hosting championship-caliber events here at UT Arlington, and providing our volleyball program the home-court advantage is an added bonus."

The Mavericks reached the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Championship finals in their first season in the conference. Seymour said hosting the 2016 tournament could help history repeat itself.

"It should be a big boost for our players,"Seymour said."Who knows, maybe a repeat of what happened 20 years ago before when UT Arlington hosted its first conference tournament championship and won."

UT Arlington hosted its first Southland Conference Tournament in 1992, and won the championship.