Oct. 27, 2007

Box Score

LAWTON, Okla. - In one of the wildest matches of the 2007 season, the No. 15 West Texas A&M volleyball team outlasted a inspired Cameron Aggies team in five games (35-33, 27-30, 31-33, 30-27, 15-9) at CU's Aggie Gym to secure the program's second consecutive Lone Star Conference regular season championship.

The Lady Buffs (27-7 overall) remained unbeaten in LSC action this season with a perfect 11-0 league mark, while Cameron, which had four straight matches, drops to 12-14 on the year and 5-5 in conference play. The victory was WT's 14^th straight over its conference foe from Lawton, Okla., and improved its overall lead in the series to 33-2.

Saturday's opening game set a tone for the match as the Lady Buffs prevailed, 35-33, to take an early advantage. Led by sophomore outside hitter Laura Prinsen, who produced eight of her match-high 26 kills in game one, and Sara Contreras, who tallied nine of her match-high 32 digs, the Buffs took a 7-4 advantage in the early goings. The Aggies, however, battled back to tie the game at 9-9 and held the lead for the remainder of the game until the Lady Buffs were finally able to regain the upper hand at 34-33 after fending off five Cameron game points.

After dropping the second game to knot the match at one game apiece, The Lady Buffs attempted to take control of the game in the third stanza and appeared en route to that goal as they built a 21-17 advantage and forced a Cameron timeout. However, three straight points out of the timeout by the Aggies propelled them back into the game and the extra spark help them scrap their way to a 33-31 game three win despite seven kills from WT freshman middle blocker Lauren Thedford.

The undefeated conference mark and seven-game winning streak for the Lady Buffs appeared in desperate peril in game four as the Aggies, riding a wave of momentum, built a 12-7 lead to force a timeout by WTAMU head coach Tony Graystone. The surge by Cameron continued after the break as the Aggie took four of the next five points and extended their lead to 16-8.

But as it has so many times this season, the Lady Buffs turn to Prinsen to spark them offensively and the sophomore stepped up to deliver big kills on two of the next three points off sets from classmate Katie Rickwartz, who turned in 50 assists in the contest. Outside hitter Natalie Johnson also chipped in with three big kills down the stretch as the Lady Buffs battled back to tie the game at 20-20. Two points later with the game tied at 21-21, WTAMU found its grove behind Rickwartz and pair of crucial blocks by Melissa Harper and rolled on to take game four 30-27.

Harper finished the contest with a career-high five solo blocks and 10 total blocks, while CU's Ruth Johnson was also a standout with 20 kills in the match.

In just their second deciding game five of the season, the Lady Buffs raced out to a 6-1 advantage over the deflated Aggies and never looked back to wrap up the 2007 Lone Star Conference regular season title.

As the regular season champions, the Lady Buffs will host the LSC Tournament at "The Box" on Nov. 8-10.