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Nov. 8, 2007

Box Score

CANYON, Texas - Riding the momentum generated by the spectacular play of sophomore middle blocker Melissa Harper, who contributed a game-high 17 kills with an impressive .394 hitting percentage, the No. 13 West Texas A&M volleyball team cruised into the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Championship on Thursday night with a sweep of Tarleton State (30-24, 30-23 and 34-32) in front of 589 fans at "The Box,"

In addition to improving their overall record on the season to 30-7, marking the 14th time in school history the program has reached the 30 win plateau, the Lady Buffs advance to the tournament's semifinal round where they will face Abilene Christian, who defeated Texas Woman's in four games Thursday. Prior to the WT-ACU contest, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, second-seeded Central Oklahoma will face sixth-seeded Cameron, which upset No. 3 seed Midwestern State in quarterfinal action.

Joining Harper on the list of statistical superlatives for the Lady Buffs were sophomore setter Katie Rickwartz, who piled up a game-high 44 assists, and junior libero Sara Contreras, who finished with 20 digs.

The match's opening game was a tightly contested one with both teams fighting back and forth for much of the way to find the score knotted at 20-20 after 40 points. Taking advantage of a pair of TSU errors and three late kills from Harper, who posted five in the game, the Lady Buffs took three straight points after the tie and 10 of the next 14 points to notch the opening game victory,

Contreras and the WT defense was active in the second game as the Lady Buffs wrestled complete control of the game from the visitors with a 30-23 win. The sophomore libero from Amarillo, collected six digs in the frame as the Lady Buffs limited the TexAnns to a frustrating .188 team hitting percentage. For the game, TSU was only able to manage a team hitting percentage of .196 against the Buff defenders.

Much of the match's drama came in the final game of the night as the Lady Buffs staved off four game points against before sophomore Natalie Johnson, who finished with 11 kills on the night, notched two straight kills and a TexAnn error sealed the victory for WT.