Nov. 14, 2009

Final Stats

CANYON, Texas – The #6-ranked West Texas A&M Lady Buffs defeated Abilene Christian in front of a crowd of 1,569 in four sets to earn their fourth-consecutive Lone Star Conference Championship. The set scores were 27-29, 25-13, 25-15, and 25-19. Tonight’s victory marks the 61^st –consecutive win over LSC opponents, including postseason matches.

The win lifts the Lady Buffs to 34-3 overall, while ACU finishes with a 29-6 record.

“We started out too tight in game one and let the moment take control, and ACU had those emotions out after last night’s five-set match,” said head coach Jason Skoch. “I told the team that they did not play well, but we could have still won that set. We took the opportunity to focus and play aggressive and won the match.”

The first set saw WT struggle with composure as ACU took the lead early in the set. WT battled back to take the set to extra points, but it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats closed the emotional set, 29-27. In the second set, ACU quickly took control with a score of 8-3. WT battled back to tie the set at 9-9 and a service ace by Katie Rickwartz (Sr., S, Canyon, Texas) gave the Lady Buffs their first lead of the set. They never looked back, leading the rest of the match for the win.

Laura Prinsen (Sr., RS, Spring, Texas) was named the tournament MVP and led all hitters in kills with 22 in 51 swings for a .353 hitting percentage. She also added another double-double with a team leading 26 digs along with five block assists and a solo block.

Also named to the all-tournament team were Katie Rickwartz (Sr., S, Canyon, Texas) and Melissa Harper (Sr., MB, Peoria, Ariz.). Harper tallied 14 kills in 34 attempts for a .314 hitting percentage. She also had two block assists, while Rickwartz led the team to a .223 hitting clip and 64 kills with 53 assists. She also tallied a double-double, adding 14 digs.

The Lady Buffs defense was all over the court as five players recorded double-digit digs, led by Prinsen. Lauren Thedford (Jr., OH/DS, Carrollton, Texas) tallied 21, followed by Lauren Beville (Fr., L, Hereford, Texas) with 18, Rickwartz with 14, and Kelsey Mangum (Fr., DS, San Antonio, Texas) with 10. The team tallied eight blocks, led by Prinsen with six, followed by Lauren Purdy (So., MB, Arlington, Texas) with five assisted blocks, and Harper and Erika Dupree (So., OH, Mesquite, Texas) with two block assists each.

 “The seniors did a great job at finding a way to win,” Skoch said. “This is not the same team as last year and each player has to step up and play better. They deserved to win.”

The Lady Buffs earned the automatic bid into the NCAA tournament with this win. The tournament seeds and host schools will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 15.