CANYON, Texas (Nov. 11, 2016) – Texas Woman's University struggled offensively in a 3-0 loss to West Texas A&M Friday night inside The Box as the Pioneers hit just .047 compared to .274 from the Lady Buffs.
With the loss, the Pioneers (9-19, 5-14 LSC) are still in the hunt for the final conference tournament spot due to Midwestern State dropping their contest tonight as well. TWU must win their next and final match tomorrow at UT Permian Basin in order to take over the final place, as the Pioneers own the tiebreaker over MSU.
The Pioneers placed the first two points of the night on the board, but the Lady Buffs (17-13, 11-8 LSC) quickly responded with 10 straight.
Courtney Noel delivered a pair of kills and a block alongside
Briley Cole to cut into WT's lead, 12-7. Back-to-back kills by
Sara Oxford and another by
Haley Collins made it a 17-11 contest before the Lady Buffs closed the frame on a 7-2 run.
TWU took a 6-5 lead in set two on a block by Oxford and Collins and surged ahead 17-12 following a 4-0 run. The Lady Buffs answered by scoring seven of the next eight points to jump ahead 19-18. Trailing 24-23, Collins tallied a tip and a kill to the middle of the floor to place the Pioneers at set point. The teams battled back and forth up until 28-28 when WT recorded consecutive kills to take the set.
The Lady Buffs opened set three with an 8-3 run before Oxford recorded a kill. A WT service error made it a 14-6 contest in favor of the Lady Buffs and four straight points increased the lead to 18-6. The Pioneers attempted to gain some ground following three WT attack errors at 21-12, but the Lady Buffs wrapped up the match with four straight points.
The Pioneers head to UT Permian Basin for the final regular season match of 2016 Saturday at 2 p.m.
