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Aug. 28, 2004

The West Texas A&M University women's volleyball team struggled Saturday afternoon with New Mexico Highlands University, coming back to win in five games, 3-2 (30-22, 25-30, 26-30, 30-18, 15-11) in the First General Services Lady Buff Classic at The Box.

The Lady Buffs were coming off Friday night's emotional upset victory over No. 15 Metro State and struggled a bit against the fiesty Cowgirls from New Mexico Highlands.

WTAMU controlled game one as they won 30-22, but NM Highlands bounced back in the second game, leading most of the stanza. WTAMU tried to mount a charge, being sparked by several tandem blocks from junior middle blocker Cynthia Carter and sophomore outside hitter Rachel Altman, but just couldn't overtake the Cowgirls, who won, 30-25.

NMHU led from start to finish in the third game, as the closest WTAMU got was 27-25, before the Cowgirls closed the door at 30-26.

The Lady Buffs again went to their block to spark a rally, getting two tandem blocks in a row, first from Altman and fellow sophomore, middle blocker Megan Spivey, then from Spivey and classmate outside hitter Jessica Scherr, to take a 10-5 lead.

WTAMU had a combined 14 blocks in the match, with Altman leading the way with a career-high nine blocks, followed by Carter with seven and Spivey with six.

The advantage grew to 19-8 followed two-straight kills from Carter, the second off a perfectly executed quick set from freshman setter Erin Houlihan, who maintained her major debut, dishing out 54 assists to go with 16 digs.

After the Cowgirls closed to 21-15, Scherr regained control for the Lady Buffs with a kill and Carter later ended the game with a kill at 30-18, forcing the fifth and deciding game.

WTAMU jumped out to a 7-4 lead off a kill by sophomore middle blocker/outside hitter Ambra Clark. The Lady Buffs took an 11-6 lead off a kill by Scherr, forcing a NMHU time-out.

The break did not slow up WTAMU's momentum train, as the Lady Buffs rolled on, as Clark ended the match at 15-11 with a booming kill.

Spivey posted a team-high 15 kills, leading a quartet of Lady Buffs with double-digit kills, followed by Altman, Clark and Scherr with 12 apiece, while Carter added nine put-downs.

Scherr and junior Libero Brittani Bell tied a match-high with 18 digs each, while Altam dealt three service aces.

NMHU also had four players with double-digit kills, led by Audra Williams with 17 kills and four aces.

WTAMU improves to 3-0 on the young season, entering Saturday's final match of the Classic at 8 p.m. against 0-3 University of Incarnate Word.

-WT-