Boxscore

CANYON, Texas – The #21 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M started slow by responded with a sweep of Texas A&M-Commerce (25-19, 25-15, 25-17) to advance to the team's 10^th straight Lone Star Conference Semifinals in front of over 700 fans at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" in Canyon on Thursday night. The Lady Buffs move their win streak to 23 matches as they improve to 31-3 on the season while the Lions end their campaign at 7-23.
 
The opening set saw the teams trade the first 10 points of the frame before back-to-back blocks by Jessica Johnson and Cori Haley followed by a Lions attack error forced an early Commerce timeout with WT leading 11-7, the teams traded points after the break before a kill by Sydney Harlan on an errant Lions pass that found its way over the net was followed by a Kameryn Hayes kill from Corey Davis to force another TAMUC timeout at 17-12. The Lady Buffs ran their lead to as much as seven points after the break at 21-14 on a Haley cross-court kill before the Lions fought back to cut the lead to 21-17 heading into a WT timeout, a pair of Haley kills from Kayes forced set point before the sophomore outside struck again with the finish to end the frame at 25-19.
 
The second set saw the Lions take the early 4-2 lead before WT stormed back with a kill by L. Davis in the deep corner followed by a service ace from the junior middle to tie the match at 5-5, Johnson and Hayes joined for a block followed by a Harlan kill in the corner to force a Lions timeout with the Lady Buffs leading 8-6. Commerce battled back to cut the Lady Buff lead to 16-13 before the Lions committed three straight attack errors to force a TAMUC timeout with the Lady Buffs leading 19-13, L. Davis continued her run at the service line with an ace following the break as WT continued to roll with another Lions attack error followed by Hayes service ace forcing set point before the senior setter found Haley on the slide play to end the frame at 25-15.
 
The third set saw the Lions jump out to an early lead again as they took the 5-3 advantage before the Lady Buffs answered  with a Marisa Ochoa kill from C. Davis followed by a Johnson kill on the quick set in the middle before another Commerce attack error forced a Lions timeout with the Lady Buffs leading 10-7. The Lions showed some life after the break but the powerful WT defense stepped up as Hayes registered a solo block on the outside followed by a L. Davis kill and a Bevan finish to force a TAMUC timeout at 16-11, WT continued their run after the break highlighted by a McKenzie Long service ace and a L. Davis kill on an errant over pass before a block by Haley and Leah Mayer forced match point at 24-14, the Lions wouldn't go down without a fight as they battled back to cut the lead to 24-17 headed into a WT timeout before Hayes found Ochoa on the outside for the cross-court smash to end the match at 25-17.
 
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by Hayes and Haley with nine kills each followed by Johnson and Bevan with six apiece, Hayes dished out a team high 24 assists on the night followed by C. Davis with 14 while Long led the Lady Buffs with 10 digs. West Texas A&M hit .309 on the night with 40 kills on 94 swings with 11 attack errors to go along with 38 assists, 45 digs and seven total blocks in the victory.
 
Texas A&M-Commerce was led by their lone senior Amy Davault with a match high 15 kills on 40 swings to hit .225 followed by Taryn Driver with seven kills, Courtney Tate led all players with 29 assists on the night while Amy Mireles led all players with 14 digs in the match. The Lions hit .073 on the night with 33 kills on 110 swings with 25 attack errors to go along with 31 assists, 40 digs and just three total blocks.
 
The Lady Buffs advance to their 10^th straight Lone Star Conference Semifinal match on Friday night to face-off with the rival TexAnns of Tarleton State with first serve set for 7:30 p.m. at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" in Canyon. TSU made quick work of Texas A&M-Kingsville earlier in the day, Angelo State and Cameron will battle in the other semifinal starting at 5 p.m.