QUICK HITS
- West Texas A&M picks up their 996^th program victory dating back to the 1980 season
- The Lady Buffs move to 4-1 with the victory while Armstrong State falls to 1-3
- WT closed out the second set on an 11-3 run after trailing 15-14
- Armstrong State finished off the third set on an 11-3 run after leading 14-10
- The Lady Buffs claim the first overall meeting against Armstrong State.
 
LEADING THE WAY (Double-Digit Statistical Leaders)
Kills – Courtnee Curl (WT, 13 Kills), Emily Wylie (ASU, 13 Kills), Elisa Bentsen (WT, 11 Kills), Cori Haley (WT, 11 Kills)
Assists – Jessica Jackson (WT, 45 Assists), Carley Eiken (ASU, 26 Assists), Kristi Vaughn (ASU, 10 Assists)
Digs – Selena Ushela (ASU, 19 Digs), Michaela Montgomery (WT, 13 Digs), Brittany Hereth (ASU, 11 Digs), Lauren Britten (WT, 10 Digs)
 
LAKELAND, Florida – The #24 Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M claimed the opening two sets before fending off the Pirates of Armstrong State in four frames (25-21, 25-18, 13-25, 27-25) on Friday morning to open the Florida Southern Terrace Hotel Classic at the Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Florida. The win lifts the Lady Buffs to 4-1 on the season while the Pirates fall to 1-3.
 
The opening set started off with the two teams trading early blows before a big block by the Pirates forced a WT timeout with ASU leading 7-6, the Lady Buffs responded as they made a run of their own highlighted by kills from Cori Haley, Lexi Davis and Elisa Bentsen to go along with an ASU ball-handling error to take the 12-9 lead. The Pirates fought back to tie the match at 14-14 before a free-ball battle ended with Jessica Jackson finding Davis on the slide play, the teams traded points before three straight Lady Buff kills forced an ASU timeout with WT leading 20-16. The teams traded points after the break before another Haley kill in the deep corner sparked a WT run highlighted by a pair of Michaela Montgomery kills to end the set, 25-21.
 
The second set saw the Lady Buffs take the momentum early as a Haley kill down the line and a Davis smash on the slide play gave WT the early 3-1 lead, another Montgomery kill and a ASU attack error ran the lead to 5-2 before the Pirates fought back to take the 7-6 lead with back-to-back blocks. WT responded after the break with a pair of kills by Bentsen in the middle to go along with a huge block to take the 9-7 lead, the teams traded points as the Pirates looked to tie the match at 14-14 but Bentsen had different plans with a huge smash in the middle followed by an ASU attack error to head into a timeout with WT leading 16-14. A free ball after the break led to another Bentsen kill followed by a Montgomery service ace and ASU ball-handling error to force another Pirates timeout with WT leading 19-14. WT continued to roll as they stretched their lead to six points before a Pirates kill in the middle, Bentsen answered again with two more kills to run her match total to 11 followed by McKenzie Long service ace. The Pirates wouldn't go down without a fight as they used multiple WT errors to cut the lead to 24-18 before a solo block by Haley ended the second set with WT claiming the 25-18 win.
 
The third set saw the teams trade early points before an ASU service ace that clipped the top of the net and found open floor to give the Pirates the early 5-2 lead, another Haley kill gave the serve back to WT before the Pirates answered will a kill of their own followed by another WT ball-handling error and a block gave ASU the 8-3 lead. Courtnee Curl connected on a smash followed by a long rally that saw a WT attack error to force a Lady Buff timeout with the Pirates leading 9-4, ASU registered two straight point after the break to extend their run before three straight kills by Curl ended the momentum. WT started to slowly chip-away at the ASU lead as they cut the score to 17-10 before two Pirate kills and WT bad set swung the momentum again to force a Lady Buff timeout at 17-10. The ASU offense would continue to click after the timeout as they finished off the frame on an 8-3 run to take the third set, 25-13.
 
The fourth set saw the Pirates come out with the momentum as they used a service ace and block to start the frame while heading to an early 7-3 lead, a kill by Montgomery sparked WT as the Lady Buffs went on a run of their own to cut the lead to 8-6 before three straight ASU points forced a WT timeout at 11-6. Montgomery registered a kill from the back row followed by a block and an ASU attack error to swing the momentum, Jackson's service ace continued the run as an ASU ball-handling error cut the lead to 16-15 before a WT attack went out of bounds to make the score 17-15. The teams traded points before Montgomery found an opening on the slide play followed by a huge block by Bentsen and Curl, ASU registered a roll-shot kill followed by a Curl smash to make it 18-18 followed by another WT block and an ASU attack error to give WT the 20-18 lead heading into a Pirates timeout.
 
ASU fought back to cut the lead to 20-19 before a Haley tip-shot on the outside that found some open floor followed by a Pirates attack error, another WT ball-handling error slowed the momentum followed by an ASU block on the slide play to cut the lead to 22-21. Armstrong's serve found its way into the net but ASU responded with a kill and a block to tie the match again at 23-23, another bad set by the Lady Buffs brought forced a WT timeout with the Pirates leading 24-23. Bentsen tied the match at 24-24 with a kill on the slide play after the break followed by an ASU ball-handling error to force match point, a Pirates kill tied the match again followed by an ASU service error into the net as WT converted this match point with a Curl kill in the deep corner for the 27-25 win.
 
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by Curl with a career high 13 kills followed by Bentsen with 11 kills on 22 swings with just one attack error to hit .455 in the match. Jackson dished out a match high 45 assists while Montgomery led the Lady Buffs with 13 digs followed by Britten with 10. The Lady Buffs hit .227 as a team with 53 kills on 141 swings with 21 attack errors to go along with 50 assists, three service aces, 57 digs and five total blocks in the match.
 
The Pirates were led by Wylie with 13 kills on 31 attempts and three attack errors to hit .323 in the match while Eiken guided the offense with 26 assists followed by Vaughn with 10. Armstrong State was led defensively by Ushela with 19 digs to lead all players followed by Hereth with 11. The Pirates hit .184 as a team with 41 kills on 125 swings and 18 attack errors to go along with 40 assists, four service aces, 50 digs and 11 total blocks in the match.
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Buffs return to action later this afternoon as they take on the Lions of St. Leo with first serve set for 2:30 p.m. CT from Jenkins Field House in Lakeland, Florida. The Lions will face off with Central Oklahoma following the WT/ASU matchup.