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CANYON, Texas- The No. 5 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs fought hard in five sets against the No. 8 MSU Denver Roadrunners to claim their third consecutive NCAA South Central Regional Championship.
The Match
#5 West Texas A&M 3, #8 MSU Denver 2 (23-25, 25-23, 14-25, 25-22, 15-11)
The Records
The Lady Buffs started down in every set except the fifth. The MSU Denver Roadrunners came out hot in The Box holding the Lady Buffs to a .000 hitting percentage in the first set. After falling too far behind, the Roadrunners would close it out 25-23.
The second set the Lady Buffs chipped away but at one point fell behind by six points. WT would tie up the set at 19 to then put it away after three kills back-to-back-to-back kills by sophomore Emma Becker who hit .429 on the night and was one kill shy of leading the Lady Buffs. The third set saw uncharacteristic hitting errors from the Lady Buffs while the Roadrunners dominated on all cylinders. They would hold the Lady Buffs to just 14 points, their lowest score in their postseason run this season.
The fourth set was a battle of grit for the Lady Buffs as they started down 0-5 before calling their first timeout of the set. They would go on to battle the Roadrunners and get to 15 by the time MSU Denver had 20. The Lady Buffs went on a 10-2 run to steal the set 25-22 from the Roadrunners. With The Box on fire with excitement the Lady Buffs would start the fifth set up with their front-line blockers leading the way. The Lady Buffs combined for 15 team blocks on the match which helped them gain an 8-4 lead in the fifth. The defensive efforts of Emma Patterson and Piper Warren gave the Lady Buffs an edge on the set with Patterson contributing 20 digs and Warren coming in clutch with serve receive to get the Lady Buffs extra points. WT would go on to finish the match 15-11 inside of a packed Box.
BY THE NUMBERS
Torrey Miller had 19 kills on 48 attempts with eight errors to hit .229. Ainsley Malis led with 24 assists while Bryli Contreras had 25 hard fought digs and Taytum Stow contributed 7 blocks out of 15 team blocks.
MILESTONES
Torrey Miller, West Texas A&M
Carly Evetts, West Texas A&M
Taytum Stow, West Texas A&M
Bryli Contreras, West Texas A&M
Rylie Anderson, MSU Denver
Rylee Hladky, MSU Denver
Ember Cantry, MSU Denver
Abbie McCrimson, MSU Denver
Delaney Fuller, DBU
Hannah Kinnison, ASU
Mara Legrand, Regis
Ayanna Jackson, Texas A&M-Kingsville
COMING UP
The Lady Buffs will prepare to travel next week to Moon Township, Pennsylvania for the NCAA Division II National Championship where the top eight teams in the nation will compete from Dec. 7-9.
The Match
#5 West Texas A&M 3, #8 MSU Denver 2 (23-25, 25-23, 14-25, 25-22, 15-11)
The Records
- West Texas A&M 31-3 (14-2 LSC)
- MSU Denver 25-7 (14-1 RMAC)
The Lady Buffs started down in every set except the fifth. The MSU Denver Roadrunners came out hot in The Box holding the Lady Buffs to a .000 hitting percentage in the first set. After falling too far behind, the Roadrunners would close it out 25-23.
The second set the Lady Buffs chipped away but at one point fell behind by six points. WT would tie up the set at 19 to then put it away after three kills back-to-back-to-back kills by sophomore Emma Becker who hit .429 on the night and was one kill shy of leading the Lady Buffs. The third set saw uncharacteristic hitting errors from the Lady Buffs while the Roadrunners dominated on all cylinders. They would hold the Lady Buffs to just 14 points, their lowest score in their postseason run this season.
The fourth set was a battle of grit for the Lady Buffs as they started down 0-5 before calling their first timeout of the set. They would go on to battle the Roadrunners and get to 15 by the time MSU Denver had 20. The Lady Buffs went on a 10-2 run to steal the set 25-22 from the Roadrunners. With The Box on fire with excitement the Lady Buffs would start the fifth set up with their front-line blockers leading the way. The Lady Buffs combined for 15 team blocks on the match which helped them gain an 8-4 lead in the fifth. The defensive efforts of Emma Patterson and Piper Warren gave the Lady Buffs an edge on the set with Patterson contributing 20 digs and Warren coming in clutch with serve receive to get the Lady Buffs extra points. WT would go on to finish the match 15-11 inside of a packed Box.
BY THE NUMBERS
Torrey Miller had 19 kills on 48 attempts with eight errors to hit .229. Ainsley Malis led with 24 assists while Bryli Contreras had 25 hard fought digs and Taytum Stow contributed 7 blocks out of 15 team blocks.
MILESTONES
- The Lady Buffs continue their postseason run with their 16th regional tournament title and third consecutive regional championship win
- WT moves to an overall 61-22 record in the NCAA post-season play
- Kendra Potts moves to 12-2 in the NCAA tournament with a 122-23 overall record
- Torrey Miller is nine kills away from being the third all-time kills leader in WT history (Currently Miller has 1,941 career kills)
- Bryli Contreras is 44 digs from 1,000 career digs
- Fans packed The Box for the second largest crowd in Lady Buff Volleyball history with 1,658
Torrey Miller, West Texas A&M
Carly Evetts, West Texas A&M
Taytum Stow, West Texas A&M
Bryli Contreras, West Texas A&M
Rylie Anderson, MSU Denver
Rylee Hladky, MSU Denver
Ember Cantry, MSU Denver
Abbie McCrimson, MSU Denver
Delaney Fuller, DBU
Hannah Kinnison, ASU
Mara Legrand, Regis
Ayanna Jackson, Texas A&M-Kingsville
COMING UP
The Lady Buffs will prepare to travel next week to Moon Township, Pennsylvania for the NCAA Division II National Championship where the top eight teams in the nation will compete from Dec. 7-9.
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