The #11 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M made short work of the rival Mustangs of Midwestern State on Saturday afternoon in a sweep (30-28, 25-19, 25-19) at D.L. Ligon Coliseum in front of over 200 fans in Wichita Falls, Texas. The win lifts the Lady Buffs to 24-4 (14-3 LSC) while the Mustangs fall to 6-22 (4-14 LSC) on the season.
The win lifts the Lady Buffs to a perfect 25-0 all-time against the Mustangs and it marks the second time this season that WT has swept Midwestern State.
The opening set saw the teams trade blows back and forth with the Mustangs needing just one point on two different occasions to take the first set but the Lady Buffs answered with kills from Stormi Lancaster and Halie Harton to end the set with WT winning 30-28. The opening set saw the score tied 14 times with six lead changes.
Set number two saw the Mustangs continue to play well offensively as they went on a 6-2 run to start the set before WT answered with four straight points of their own to tie the match a 6-6 and force an MSU timeout. The Lady Buffs came out after the break on a 13-6 run before MSU answered with three straight points to force a WT timeout. The Lady Buffs finished out the set on a 6-4 to take the set 25-19.
The third set saw the teams battle to trade points before the Lady Buffs went on a 7-3 run to take a 17-13 lead. The Mustangs wouldn’t go down without a fight as they pulled the set to within 20-19 before WT took over to end the set and the match with a 25-19 win.
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by Halie Harton and Stormi Lancaster with 11 kills each, Lancaster also registered a team high 15 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Senior setter Lacy Hayes dished out a match high 45 assists to go along with nine digs. The Lady Buffs hit .308 as a team with 15 attack errors and six total blocks.
Defending LSC Defensive Player of the Week Lauren Beville tallied 11 digs on the afternoon to move her career total to 2,233 which pushes the Hereford native to 15 digs shy of Sara Contreras (2,248) for the all-time lead in WT history.
The Mustangs were led offensively by Shelbi Stewart with 11 kills followed by teammate Caitlin Wallace with 10. Kristan Aduddell dished out a team high 24 assists while Casey Fletcher tallied a match high 17 digs on the afternoon. The Mustangs hit .196 as a team with 17 attack errors and seven total blocks.
The Lady Buffs return to action on Tuesday night as they head down Highway 60 for a matchup with the rival Zias of Eastern New Mexico with first serve set for 7 p.m. at Greyhound Arena in Portales, New Mexico.
