Boxscore
CANYON, Texas – The Mavericks of Colorado Mesa hit .233 as a team with 52 kills on Friday night as they swept the #6 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M (20-25, 23-25, 23-25) during the opening night of the BritKare Lady Buff Classic to snap a 31 match home win streak at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" in Canyon, Texas. The Lady Buffs move to 1-1 on the season while the Mavericks improve to 2-0.
The loss not only snaps WT's 31 match home win streak but it marks the first sweep of the Lady Buffs since December 6, 2012 against BYU-Hawaii in the National Quarterfinals. The last time the Lady Buffs fell in straight sets at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" was September 25, 2007 against Pittsburg State at the Lady Buff Classic, the 2007 team went on to fall in the National Semifinals to Concordia St. Paul.
The opening set saw the Mavericks come out swinging as they took the early 6-2 lead, the Lady Buffs would cut into the lead highlighted by a
Lauren Bevan kill in the middle of the court but unforced WT attack errors forced a Lady Buff timeout with Mesa leading 11-6. The Lady Buffs continue to struggle after the break as a Mesa service ace forced another WT timeout with the Mavericks leading 20-13. The Lady Buffs used a pair of great plays in the back row by
Lauren Britten followed by a Bevan kill to switch the momentum and cut the lead to 21-17 as Mesa called their first timeout of the set, WT cut the lead to 21-19 before a CMU run gave them the 25-20 win.
The second set saw the Mavs register three of the first four points before a WT sideout sent newcomer
Corey Davis to the service line to spark a Lady Buff run that gave them the 6-3 lead to force a CMU timeout, the Lady Buffs continued to capitalize on Mesa attack mistakes while Davis and Bevan registered service aces to run the WT lead to 11-4 to force the final Mesa timeout of the set. Mesa made a run of their own after the break as two huge kills forced a WT timeout with the Lady Buffs leading 13-8, the Mavs fought back as they used the quick set in the middle to their advantage to force WT's second timeout with the 18-16 lead. The Mavs would hold the 24-21 advantage before a pair of Lady Buff kills made the set interesting but a WT service error would end the set, 25-23.
The two teams started off the third trading blows as they split the first 16 points of the frame before a huge solo block by
Cori Haley sparked a small Lady Buff run capped by
Sydney Harlan's first collegiate kill to force a Mesa timeout with WT leading 15-12, the Mavs went on a run of their own after the break to tie the score at 16-16 to force a WT timeout. The teams traded blows after the break in a back-and-forth slugfest, Harlan struck again to give WT the 22-21 lead while forcing Mesa's final timeout, the Mavs battled to take the lead on a WT attack error to force a Lady Buff timeout at 23-22. The Mavericks would end the set just three points later on a WT receiving error to hand the Lady Buffs their first home loss in 31 matches, 25-23.
The Lady Buffs were led by Bevan with 14 kills followed by
Kameryn Hayes with eight and Haley with five, Hayes dished out 22 assists on the night while Davis had nine. Britten tied a match high with 14 digs on the night while Hayes also tallied seven. WT hit .202 as a team with 36 kills and 14 errors while dishing out 36 assists with 40 digs, the WT defense tallied just 6.5 blocks compared to 16 against Adams State earlier in the day.
The Mavericks were led by Melissa Hess with 14 kills and Abby Ney with 12 while teammate Casey Ball tallied nine, Jordan Moody dished out a match high 45 assists on the night while Erin Perez (14) and Tiffany Peterson (13) led the team in digs. Colorado Mesa hit .233 as a team with 52 kills and 22 errors while dishing out 48 assists and tallying 54 digs while their defense tallied just two blocks.
The Lady Buffs return to action tomorrow afternoon as they take on the Mountain Lions of UC-Colorado Springs with first serve set for Noon followed by a 2013 South Central Regional Semifinal rematch with the Rangers of Regis at 7:30 p.m. at the WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box".
