Boxscore

CANYON, Texas – The Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M took over sole possession of first place in the Lone Star Conference on Saturday afternoon as they topped the rival Belles of Angelo State in four sets (25-22, 25-13, 19-25, 25-12) in front of almost 650 fans at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" in Canyon. The Lady Buffs move to 12-3 (5-0 LSC) on the season while the Belles fall to 10-2 (5-1 LSC) and snap nine match win streak.
 
The win lifts the Lady Buffs to 54-15 against Angelo State into this weekend's matchup with WT taking the last seven meetings, WT has topped the Belles 23 straight times at the WTAMU Fieldhouse dating back to Nov. 6, 1993. The victory also gives the Lady Buffs their 29^th consecutive win in Lone Star Conference play.
 
Prior to the match, the Lady Buffs and Belles joined the crowd at the WTAMU Fieldhouse in a moment of silence to honor the North Central Texas College softball program who was involved in a tragic accident last night heading back to Gainesville from a scrimmage in Bethany, Oklahoma. Four Lady Lions lost their lives with 15 more players/coaches injured, we ask that Buff Nation keep the NCTC community along with the families of those affected in your thoughts.
 
The opening set saw the Lady Buffs carry over their momentum from last night's sweep as they came out swinging with Lauren Bevan registering three kills to start the match to force an early ASU timeout at 5-1, WT continued their run after the timeout as they used a pair of Sydney Harlan kills followed by a McKenzie Long service ace to force the Belles second timeout with WT leading 13-7. The Belles responded after the break as they used a pair of blocks to force a WT timeout with the Lady Buffs leading 16-12, Angelo battled back to cut the lead to 23-22 heading into a WT timeout as ASU's Alexa Johnson found the deep corner for the point. Bevan took control of the match after the timeout as the senior connected on a pair of cross court kills to end the set at 25-22.
 
The second set started out with the teams trading points as they split the opening 10 of the frame before a WT run highlighted by a pair of blocks by Jessica Johnson and a Harlan kill to force an early timeout by the Belles with the Lady Buffs leading 9-5, WT continued their run after the timeout as Harlan and Cori Haley connected on kills to run the Lady Buff led to 13-6 to force another ASU timeout. Kameryn Hayes registered a service ace after the break before the Belles responded with a small run of their own to force a Lady Buff timeout at 15-9, the Belles cut the lead to five points at 15-10 before the Lady Buffs ended the frame on a 10-3 run as an Angelo State attack error ended the set with WT winning 25-13.
 
The third set looked to be all Angelo State in the beginning as they took the early 12-6 lead to force an early WT timeout, the Belles continued to add to their lead as they ran the score to 20-12 before WT responded with a small run to force a Belles timeout at 23-16. An ASU kill forced set point at 24-16 before a Haley kill and a pair of Belles attack error swung the momentum to the WT side before an ASU block ended the set with Angelo taking the 25-19 decision.
 
The Lady Buffs showed where the momentum lied following a third set loss as they came out swinging to start the fourth with Bevan service ace forcing an ASU timeout with WT leading 6-2, WT continued their run after the break as a block by Johnson and Bevan at 12-8 sparked a Lady Buff run highlighted by a Haley kill to force another ASU timeout at 15-8. Angelo would make a run of their own after the break as they scored three of the next four points to force a WT timeout and cut the lead to 16-11, the Lady Buffs would roll after the break as they ended the set on a 9-1 run ended by a Hayes kill from Kyli Schulz for the 25-12 decision.
 
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by Bevan with a season high 22 kills followed by Harlan with 12 and Haley with seven, Hayes led all players with 39 assists to go along with 10 digs for the double-double while Schulz dished out 10 assists on the afternoon. Lauren Britten was a force on the defensive end as she led all players with 15 digs while Bevan registered the double-double with 10 to go along with 22 kills. West Texas A&M hit .286 as a team with 57 kills on 126 assists with 21 attack errors to go along with 53 assists, 53 digs and eight blocks on the night.
 
The Belles were led by Mallory Blauser with 12 kills followed by Zoey Hanrahan and Abbie Lynn with seven each, Alexa Johnson dished out a team high 32 assists on the afternoon while Shelby Wilt tallied 11 digs to lead ASU. Angelo State hit .148 as a team with 43 kills on 128 attempts to go along with 24 attack errors while registering 40 assists, 44 digs and seven total blocks in the match.
 
The Lady Buffs return to action next Tuesday as they step outside of Lone Star Conference play with a short road trip to face off with the Pioneers of Wayland Baptist with first serve set for 7 p.m. at the Hutcherson Center in Plainview, Texas. WT leads the all-time series against the Pioneers, 11-0 with the Lady Buffs taking the last meeting between the two teams in straight sets back on September 9, 2011 during the Lady Buff Invitational in Canyon.