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First Round of LSC Tournament Successful for Lady Buffs with Sweep of Midwestern State

Face #4-seed Texas A&M-Commerce at 7:30 on Friday

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Senior Middle Blocker Melissa Harper

Senior Middle Blocker Melissa Harper

Nov. 12, 2009

Final Stats

CANYON, Texas – The #6-ranked West Texas A&M Lady Buffs kept their LSC win streak alive into postseason play, defeating Midwestern State in three sets with scores of 25-9, 25-14, and 25-16. The win lifts WT to 32-3 this season, while the Mustangs end with a 10-25 overall record.

All of the top seeds won their respective matches in the first round of tournament play. #3-seed Angelo State defeated #6-seed Texas Woman’s in a close five set match. #2 Abilene Christian swept #7 Texas A&M and #4-seed Texas A&M-Commerce beat #5 Central Oklahoma in five sets.

“We showed some good things tonight,” said head coach Jason Skoch. “If we pass and dig to target as well as we did tonight, we will have great chances this postseason.”

Lauren Thedford (Jr., OH/DS, Carrollton, Texas) showed some fire early in the match as she led the team in kills in the first set with five and also had two big service aces. For the match, she was one of three players to lead the team with 11 kills and hit a .455 hitting percentage. She also contributed nine digs and four block assists.

“Lauren (Thedford) is really clicking at the right time,” Skoch said.

Melissa Harper (Sr., MB, Peoria, Ariz.) and Laura Prinsen (Sr. RS, Spring, Texas) also tallied 11 kills each, hitting at .500 and .625 hitting clips, respectively. Natalie Johnson (Sr., OH, Cortez, Colo.) finished the night with six kills while Katie Rickwartz (Sr., S, Canyon, Texas) was lethal from the front row with five setter dump kills.


 

 

The Lady Buffs’ defense at the net was as strong as its been all season  as the team registered 11 blocks, led by Lauren Purdy (So., MB, Arlington, Texas) with six block assists and one solo block. Harper recorded three assist blocks and also had a solo block. Prinsen and Johnson added two and three block assists, respectively.

Prinsen recorded another double-double outing with kills and digs, leading the team with 10. Lauren Beville (Fr., L, Hereford, Texas) and Thedford each contributed nine digs and Rickwartz followed closely behind with eight digs.

Rickwartz led the team to a .381 hitting percentage while Midwestern registered a hitting percentage of .019. The second set saw the Lady Buffs hitting at 40.7 percent accuracy with 15 kills in 27 attempts and only four errors.

LSC tournament action continues on Friday, Nov. 13, as Abilene Christian and Angelo State face off at 5:00 p.m., followed by the Lady Buffs and Texas A&M-Commerce at 7:30 p.m. Matches will be played in The Box in Canyon, Texas.