Boxscore

CANYON, Texas – The #21 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M dropped the opening two sets but battled back to hold a 11-5 lead in the fifth and deciding set before the TexAnns of Tarleton State handed WT their first ever home loss when hosting a Lone Star Conference Tournament on Friday night in front of over 700 fans at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" in Canyon. The Lady Buffs fall to 31-4 with the win while the TexAnns advance to tomorrow's LSC Title match with a 22-7 overall record.
 
The opening set saw the two teams trade the first 10 points of the frame before the TexAnns used back-to-back kills off of the block to force an early Lady Buff timeout at 7-5, the teams continued to battle back and forth as WT tied the set at 15-15 on a Kameryn Hayes kill from Cori Davis before the TexAnns answered back with a run of their own as a WT registered a kill by Cori Haley from Hayes on the cross-court smash before a WT attack error forced a Lady Buff timeout with TSU leading 22-18. Lexi Davis found the deep corner for the kill before TSU answered with three of the next four points to take the opening set, 25-20.

The second set started off just like the first as the two teams traded blows early before a small TSU run gave the TexAnns the 10-7 lead before a Jessica Johnson kill on the slide play and a Lauren Bevan finish following a long rally to cut the lead to 9-10 but Tarleton answered with three straight points to force a WT timeout at 13-9, the TexAnns registered three more points after the timeout to take a 16-10 lead before WT responded with a 4-1 run highlighted by a Hayes kill on an errant over pass to force a Tarleton timeout at 17-13. The Lady Buffs continued their run after the break as they used a L. Davis kill on a long rally followed by a Sydney Harlan cross-court smash to force a TSU timeout with the TexAnns leading 18-17, the teams continued to trade blows as a block by L. Davis and Haley gave WT the 23-22 lead before TSU registered three straight points including two by LSC Freshman of the Year Hailey Roberts for the 25-23 win.
 
The third set saw the Lady Buffs come out with the momentum as they used an Aspen Sanders service ace followed by a pair of L. Davis kills on a quick set from Hayes to force an early Tarleton timeout at 7-3, WT continued to finally click on offense as Hayes found Harlan on the outside for a cross-court kill followed by a Haley kill off of the Tarleton block to force a TexAnns timeout at 14-8. The Lady Buffs continued to play well as they stretched their lead to nine points on a McKenzie Long service ace at 21-12 before TSU battled back again to cut the lead to 21-15 and force a WT timeout, Tarleton continued their run after the timeout as they battled back to use a Lady Buff ball handling error followed by a kill to force another WT timeout with the Lady Buffs holding the 23-21 lead, Hayes found Haley on the slide play followed by a Bevan kill on the outside from Hayes to end the third set at 25-21.
 
The third set saw the teams come out swinging as they traded the first 22 points of the match before a Johnson solo block and a Bevan kill on the outside from Hayes gave the Lady Buffs the 13-11 advantage, the WT defense continued to play well as Bevan and Johnson connected on a block followed by a Bevan kill on an over pass to force a TexAnns timeout at 17-15. WT continued their run after the timeout as they used a pair of TexAnns errors to go along with a Marisa Ochoa kill to force TSU's second timeout at 20-15, WT played well after the break as they used a pair of blocks by Haley and Johnson followed by a Bevan kill from Hayes to send the match into a fifth and deciding set with a 25-22 win.
 
The fifth and final set saw the TexAnns register the first three points of the frame before WT responded with four of their own as a huge solo block by L. Davis erupted the crowd at The Box and send the Lady Buffs into a TSU timeout with the 4-3 lead, the TexAnns were called for being out of rotation after the break followed by a Bevan kill to head into the side change at 8-4, the WT defense proved its dominance after the switch as a pair of blocks by L. Davis and Hayes forced TSU's last timeout at 11-5. The TexAnns wouldn't go down without a fight as they registered three straight points to send the teams into a WT timeout at 11-8, the TexAnns continued their run after the timeout as they registered five of the next six points to take a 13-12 lead into WT's final timeout. The TexAnns completed the comeback after the break as they registered the final three points of the frame to take the 15-13 victory.
 
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by L. Davis with 15 kills on 35 swings to hit .314 followed by Bevan with 14 and Haley with 10 kills on the night, Hayes led the Lady Buffs with 32 assists while Lauren Britten had 19 digs in the match followed by Hayes, Sanders and C. Davis with 12 each. West Texas A&M hit .155 on the night 58 kills on 193 swings with 28 attack errors to go along with 54 asssist, 85 digs and 12 total blocks on the night.
 
Tarleton State was led by Hailey Roberts with a match high 24 kills on 67 swings to hit .209 followed by Kenya Alexander with 12 and Kaitlyn White with 10 kills in the match, Emily Medlin dished out a match high 34 assists followed by Chandler Gow with 30 while Katie Covell led all players with 28 digs. The TexAnns hit .191 on the night with 70 kills on 204 attempts with 31 attack errors to go along with 67 assists, 87 digs and 14 total blocks on the night.
 
The Lady Buffs will now await their postseason fate as the NCAA will announce the 64-team field on Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. CT in an online selection show at NCAA.com. The Lady Buffs entered this week as the fifth seed in the South Central Region, the top eight teams in the final regional rankings will advance to the NCAA South Central Regional Championship at a site to be determined.