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CANYON, Texas – The Lady Buffs look to snap a three match losing skid on Friday as they take on the St. Edward's Hilltoppers at 1 p.m. at The Box in Canyon followed by an LSC matchup with Texas A&M-Kingsville at 7 p.m.
- SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
ST. EDWARD'S
The Hilltoppers are led by second year head coach Mary DeJute who led STEU to the Heartland Conference Tournament in 2015.
St. Edward's enters the weekend with an overall record of 9-15 with a 7-4 mark in Heartland Conference play following home losses to Arkansas-Fort Smith and Newman to run their losing skid to three matches.
The Hilltoppers are led offensively by Katie Martin with 199 kills (2.52/set) on 747 swings with 100 attack errors to hit .133 on the season, Avalon Frantz paces the STEU offense with 413 assists (4.98/set) while Morgan Beckham leads the way defensively with 509 digs (6.53/set).
The Lady Buffs lead the all-time series with the Hilltoppers, 12-1 with WT sweeping past St. Ed's on Nov. 12th of last season in Austin. The Hilltoppers are 0-3 all-time in Canyon.
TEXAS A&M-KINGSVILLE
The Javelinas are led by sixth year head coach Tanya Allen who has led TAMUK to four-straight LSC Tournaments.
Texas A&M-Kingsville enters the week with an overall record of 21-8 with a 10-6 mark in LSC play following a three set loss to #10 Angelo State on Tuesday night before rebounding with a sweep of Texas A&M-International.
The Javelinas are led offensively by Krystal Faison with 344 kills (3.16/set) on 1,019 swings with 120 attack errors to hit .220 on the season, Casey Klobedans guides the TAMUK offense with 1,124 assists (10.41/set) while Krystal Puente leads the way defensively with 435 digs to average 3.99 per frame.
The Lady Buffs lead the all-time series with the Javelinas, 49-9 with the Lady Buffs falling in a five set thriller to the Javalinas back on October 7th in Kingsville. TAMUK is 4-27 all-time in Canyon.
- A LOOK BACK
WNMU RECAP
WT senior libero
Lauren Britten continued her march up the program's all-time career digs list as the Amarillo native became just the fourth Lady Buff in history to surpass the 2,000 career digs mark in a five set loss at Western New Mexico (25-20, 19-25, 25-19, 21-25, 12-15) on Tuesday night.
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by
Cori Haley with 16 kills on 57 swings with 12 attack errors to hit .070 on the night followed by
Taylor Kress (12),
Crystal Thomas (11) and
Larami Lancaster 10 with double-digit kills,
Selena Batiste paced the WT offense with a match high 37 assists with 11 digs followed by
Kyli Schulz with 24 assists and 12 digs for double-doubles while Britten tallied 14 digs followed by Haley with 12 for a double-double. WT registered 66 kills on 172 swings with 26 attack errors to hit .233 on the night with 62 assists, 72 digs and six total blocks.
THE FIRST MEETING
WT took two of the first three sets before falling in five frames to Texas A&M-Kingsville on the road (25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 17-25, 11-15) in Lone Star Conference action at the Steinke Center in Kingsville, Texas.
The Lady Buffs were led offensively by
Cori Haley with 14 kills on 42 swings with five attack errors to hit .214 on the night followed by
Elisa Bentsen with 12 kills to go along with six blocks,
Selena Batiste dished out a team high 29 assists followed by
Kyli Schulz with 21 assists to go along with 15 digs for a double-double,
Lauren Britten registered 24 digs followed by
Rachel Rhoades with 15. WT registered 58 kills on 183 swings with 19 attack errors to hit .213 as a team with 56 assists, 82 digs and 10 total blocks.
THE LONE STAR CONFERENCE
Entering the week, LSC volleyball teams were 149-128 overall this season. The squads are currently 15-9 combined versus Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams, and 23-9 against the Heartland Conference, which are the other leagues in the NCAA South Central Region. Eastern New Mexico's Laruen Frye was named the LSC Offensive Player of the Week while Angelo State's Mallory Davidson picked up the Defensive honors, Angelo State's Meghan Parker was tabbed the league's Setter of the Week on Tuesday afternoon by the LSC offices located in Richardson, Texas.
HOME DOMINANCE
West Texas A&M is fortunate to have one of the best home environments in all of NCAA Volleyball, in any division. The WTAMU Fieldhouse is more affectionately known as "The Box," is home to 19 Lone Star Conference Championships, 13 Regional Titles and three NCAA Division II National Championships. The WTAMU Fieldhouse "The Box" boats one of the best home winning records in the NCAA on any level of competition. The Lady Buffs are 451-71 at The Box since the 1980 season for an incredible winning percentage of 86.4%.
WT HEAD COACH JASON SKOCH
WT head coach
Jason Skoch, a four-time Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year, is now in his eighth season at the helm of the Lady Buffs, carrying an overall career record of 366-79 (.834, 12th year including a 230-59 (.813) mark in Canyon. Skoch has led the Lady Buffs to seven appearances in the NCAA Postseason with three South Central Regional Titles and a National Runner-Up finish in 2009.
LIVE COVERAGE
The West Texas A&M Athletic Media Relations Department will provide live stats and a free webstream for both of Friday's matches in Canyon. Fans can follow the Lady Buffs by visiting the volleyball schedule page at GoBuffsGo.com.
MOVING ON UP
Senior libero
Lauren Britten is making her way up the program's all-time digs list as the Amarillo High School alumni currently sits in fourth place in the WT record books with 2,001 career digs. She is one of only four Lady Buffs in history with atleast 2,000 career digs and the Amarillo native currently sits 149 digs behind Brittani Bell (2,150 / 2002-05) for third place all-time.
