QUICK HITS
- Friday afternoon marks WT's first neutral site loss since Sept. 20, 2014 against Truman State
- Saint Leo held as much as an eight point lead (17-9) in the opening frame
- The third set saw three set/match points combined between the two teams
- The Lady Buffs committed 16 attack errors and five ball-handling errors in the match
- With the loss, the Lady Buffs move to 2-1 all-time against Saint Leo
 
LEADING THE WAY (Double-Digit Statistical Leaders)
Kills – Britt Sederholm (STL, 19 Kills), Hope Lemon (STL, 14 Kills), Anna Siruckova (STL, 13 Kills), Cori Haley (WT, 11 Kills), Michaela Montgomery (WT, 10 Kills), Lexo Davis (WT, 10 Kills)
Assists – Ashlee Hodgskin (STL, 50 Assists), Jessica Jackson (WT, 35 Assists), Kyli Schulz (WT, 10 Assists)
Digs – Jamee Townsend (STL, 23 Digs), Lauren Britten (WT, 14 Digs), Hope Lemon (STL, 11 Digs), Britt Sederholm (STL, 10 Digs)
 
LAKELAND, Florida – The #24 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M started slow and never recovered against an athletic Lions team from Saint Leo as WT fell in four sets (19-25, 19-25, 27-25, 17-25) during the Florida Southern Terrace Hotel Classic at the Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Florida. The Lady Buffs fall to 4-2 on the season while the Lions improve to 4-2.
 
The opening set saw the Lady Buffs come out swinging as kills from Cori Haley and Lexi Davis gave WT the momentum with a 4-2 lead before the Lions responded to tie the frame, Saint Leo continued their run as they forced an early WT timeout at 8-5. The teams continued to trade blows after the break as WT used numerous Lions service errors to pull themselves back into the frame at 11-9 before Saint Leo answered with four kills to make it 15-9 heading into another WT timeout. The Lions found the deep corner on a back-row attack immediately following the break to continue their run before Jessica Jackson found Davis on the quick set to end the run, Michaela Montgomery connected on the cross-court smash before Saint Leo answered with three points of their own including a service ace to run the lead to 20-11.
 
WT wouldn't go down without a fight as Montgomery connected again followed by a Davis service ace, the teams traded points before Courtnee Curl found the corner on a tip shot to force a Saint Leo timeout at 22-16. The Lions used a tip shot of their own after the timeout followed by an Elisa Bentsen finish on the slide play, another Saint Leo kill brought set point at 24-17 heading into a Lions timeout. WT stayed in the set as Haley and Bentsen combined for a huge block followed by a Davis kill on the tip-play before Saint Leo ended the frame on a cross-court kill, 25-19.
 
The Lions came out swinging in the second set as they took an early 7-3 lead on a service ace to head into a WT timeout, the Lions registered another service ace after the break to run the lead to 8-3 followed by a block before Bentsen found the middle of the court with a tip-shot. Haley found the deep corner to swing the momentum as the Lady Buffs cut the lead to 12-9 on a Lions service error, the teams would trade points before a Curl roll shot that found the deep corner was followed by a huge block by Bentsen and Curl to make it 14-12 before a pair of Lion points forced a WT timeout at 16-12.
 
A Saint Leo ball-handling error cut the lead to 16-13 after the break as WT slowly cut into the lead behind slide play kills from Bentsen and Davis to force a Lions timeout at 17-15. Jackson found Davis again on the slide to keep the momentum followed by a huge Saint Leo kill, WT committed a pair of ball-handling errors to make it 20-16 followed by a Lions cross-court kill. The teams traded points again followed by a Davis kill in the middle to cut the lead to 22-18, Aspen Sanders made a great diving dig that led to a Montgomery kill followed by a Saint Leo point to make it 23-19. The Lions forced set point with a service ace followed by a Saint Leo tip-shot kill to end the frame, 25-19.
 
The third set saw the Lady Buffs come out on fire as they scored the first three points of the frame highlighted by a huge block by Montgomery and Davis, the Lions responded with two quick points of their own before Jackson found Montgomery on the quick set to make it 4-2. Saint Leo fought back to tie the frame at 7-7 before Bentsen found the open floor with a tip-shot followed by a Haley kill off of the block and two more kills to run the score to 11-7 and force a Lions timeout. The teams traded blows after the break as a Lauren Britten service ace ran the WT lead to 13-8 before the Lions responded with four straight points to cut the lead to 13-12 and force a Lady Buff timeout. Cheyenne Lytle registered a kill after the break to give the serve back to WT followed by a Lions blocking error before a pair of Saint Leo kills swung the momentum again, the Lions gave WT another point with a held-ball and the Lady Buffs capitalized with huge block by Davis and Montgomery to make it 17-14.
 
WT's next serve couldn't find the court followed by a Lady Buff attack error, the teams traded errors again followed by a Saint Leo roll-shot kill to tie the frame at 18-18. Jackson found Curl on the outside for the kill followed by a Bentsen finish on an errant over pass by the Lions, Saint Leo converted a pair of kill opportunities to tie the set again at 20-20 before a huge smash by Bentsen in the middle followed by a Haley kill to force a Lions timeout at 22-20. Saint Leo found an opening to cut the lead to one followed by a WT attack error that tied the frame again, Jackson found Haley on the outside for the cross-court finish at 23-22 followed by a WT service error. The Lions registered a block in the middle to take the 24-23 lead to force match point before WT responded with a block of their own at 24-24, the teams traded points again before Jackson found Haley on the outside for the huge finish to force set point followed by a Montgomery kill to give WT the 27-25 win.
 
The Lions opened up the fourth set with an 8-3 lead as the Lady Buffs tried multiple lineup combinations to force a Lady Buff timeout, Saint Leo continued to roll after the break as they stretched their lead to as much as six points at 10-4 before a Courtney Robledo kill ended the run. The Lions responded with two straight kills off of the block before Robledo struck again followed by a Lions attack error to make it 12-7, the teams traded errors and kills as the Lions held onto the 16-10 lead before a Saint Leo ball-handling error looked to swing the momentum but three straight Lions points ran the lead to 19-11. The teams traded points again as Haley crushed a kill off of the block followed by a Haley service ace, the Lions connected on the roll-shot followed by a kill on an errant over pass to run the lead to 22-14. The teams traded points again as Saint Leon registered a service ace and a kill off of the block to force match point at 24-15, the Lions serve would find the net followed by a Montgomery service ace before a Saint Leo kill off of the block ended the match, 25-17.
 
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by Haley with 11 kills on 30 swings with four attack errors to hit .233 on the afternoon followed by Montgomery and Davis with 10 kills each. Jackson guided the WT offense with 35 assists while Schulz registered 10 digs while Britten led the team with 14 digs on the afternoon. The Lady Buffs hit .245 as a team with 51 kills on 143 swings with 16 attack errors to go along with 49 assists, four service aces, 54 digs and just five blocks in the match.
 
The Lions were led by Sederholm with 19 kills and 10 digs for the double-double while Lemos also registered a double-double with 14 kills and 11 digs in the match, Hodgskin led all players with 50 assists in the match while Townsend registered a match-high 23 digs on the afternoon. Saint Leo hit .336 as a team with 63 kills on 143 swings with 15 attack errors to go along with 57 assists, seven service aces, 59 digs and one total block in the match.
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Buffs return to action tomorrow morning as they take on former Lone Star Conference foe Central Oklahoma with first serve set for 11:00 a.m. CT from Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Florida. UCO swept past St. Leo earlier in the day and are set to take on #11 Florida Southern tonight starting at 6:30 p.m. CT.