Boxscore
LEBANON, Illinois – The #20 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M started slow and never recovered on Saturday afternoon as they fell to the Bulldogs of Truman State (20-25, 21-25, 23-25) at the McKendree Classic inside of the Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Illinois. The loss snaps a six match win streak by the Lady Buffs as they fall to 8-3 while the Bulldogs improve to 7-2 on the year.
The opening set saw the Lady Buff jump out to an early 7-4 lead behind kills from
Lauren Bevan and
Marisa Ochoa before the Bulldogs responded to tie the match at 8-8, Truman State went on a run of their own as a TSU service ace forced a Lady Buff timeout with the Bulldogs leading 14-10. TSU stretched their lead to as much as five at 21-16 before the Lady Buffs cut the lead to 23-20, the Bulldogs responded with three consecutive points to take the opening set 25-20.
The second frame saw the Bulldogs carry over their momentum as they took an early 9-5 lead to force a WT timeout, kills by Bevan and
Jessica Johnson cut the lead to 11-9 before TSU battled back again to take the 18-13 lead on a WT attack error. West Texas looked to be taking the momentum back after the break as they cut the lead to four at 21-17 to force a Bulldog timeout but the potent TSU offense was too much as they ended the frame eight points later for the 25-21 win.
The third set saw the teams come out swinging as they split the first 10 points of the frame before a TSU run that saw the Bulldogs take a 11-6 lead to force a Lady Buff timeout, Truman continued to roll after the break as they stretched their lead to 15-9 before a small WT run highlighted by back-to-back kills by
Sydney Harlan made the score 15-12. The teams traded blows before a
Cori Haley kills followed by a pair from Bevan cut the TSU lead to 19-18, TSU pushed their lead to 21-19 before two WT points including a block by Bevan and
Leah Mayer tied the match at 21-21 and forced a Bulldog timeout. The match remained tied at 23-23 before a pair of WT attack errors ended the match at 25-23.
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by Bevan with 11 kills followed by Mayer, Ochoa, Haley and
Kameryn Hayes with five each, Hayes dished out 20 assists in the match while Schulz had 10.
Lauren Britten tallied 19 digs while teammate
Aspen Sanders had 12. WT hit .120 as a team with 35 kills on 117 attempts with 21 errors to go along with 33 assists, 61 digs and just four blocks on the afternoon.
Truman State was led by Ali Patterson and Kayla Bastian with 13 kills each while teammate Allie Brak had 12 in the match, Meghan Zimmerman led all players with 35 assists in the match to go along with 16 digs for the double-double. The Bulldogs hit .278 as a team with 48 kills on 128 attempts with 13 attack errors while registering 43 assists, 57 digs and 10.0 blocks in the match.
The Lady Buffs will wrap-up the 2014 McKendree Classic at 6:30 p.m. as they take on the host Bearcats at the Statham Sports Center in Lebanon. WT returns to the friendly confines of the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" on Tuesday night as they host the Aggies of Cameron with first serve set for 7 p.m. in Lone Star Conference action.
