Oct. 20, 2009

CANYON, Texas - Three West Texas A&M Lady Buffs garnered Lone Star Conference player of the week honors, announced by conference officials Tuesday. Natalie Johnson earned LSC South Offensive Player of the Week and Lauren Thedford garnered LSC South Defensive Player of the Week, both for the first time this season. Katie Rickwartz was named the LSC South Setter of the Week for the fifth-consecutive week and the seventh time this season.

Despite multiple team hurdles, Natalie Johnson (Sr., OH, Cortez, Colo.) stepped up to the plate last week, leading the Lady Buffs in kills in their two wins over Cameron and Midwestern State. She totaled 23 kills in 50 attempts for a .340 hitting clip and an average of 3.83 kills per set. She also contributed two block assists, and six digs. Johnson led the team in points with 24.0. Her best match was against Midwestern State where she recorded a match-leading 12 kills in 26 swings for a hitting percentage of .385. She also had two digs and a block assist. Johnson is currently third overall on the team in total kills.

 

Lauren Thedford (Jr., OH/DS, Carrollton, Texas) led the Lady Buffs’ defensive stand in their two wins last week against Cameron and Midwestern State. She totaled 30 digs in six sets, averaging 5.00 digs per set. Against Midwestern State, WT totaled 62 digs to the Mustangs 46 digs, with Thedford contributing 19 digs by herself. She also contributed 15 kills (.250 hitting percentage), two assists, two service aces, and two block assists. Thedford is currently second on the team in digs, totaling 308 digs this season for an average of 3.69 digs per set. She is also nearing a the 1,000 career digs mark. She has 971 career digs, only 29 away from the mark.

 

Katie Rickwartz (Sr., S, Canyon, Texas) posted similar stats in the Lady Buffs’ matches against Cameron and Midwestern State as she did last week. She tallied 74 total assists for the week, averaging 12.3 assists per set, and led the team to a .276 hitting percentage. She also contributed four service aces, six kills, 15 digs, and one block assist. Against Midwestern State, she recorded her 13th double-double outing this season, with 34 assists and 13 digs. Her digs this week also put her over the 1,000 career digs mark. She now totals 1,009 career digs.

 

Johnson, Thedford, Rickwartz and the rest of the Lady Buffs travel south tonight to take on the Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps at 7:00 p.m., in Lubbock, Texas. They return home for back-to-back home matches on Oct. 22-24.