By Texas Woman's Athletics Communications
CANYON, Texas (Oct. 5, 2019) – Texas Woman's achieved their goal of notching a signature win on the road with a 3-1 victory over West Texas A&M (12-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23) Saturday afternoon.
The win is only the second time in program history that the Pioneers have defeated the Lady Buffs on the road. The first time TWU won in the Box, WT's home gym, was Sept. 19, 2015.
"We realized after yesterday's sweep at Eastern (New Mexico) that we're playing pretty well and that this needed to be a statement game for us," Head Coach
Jeff Huebner said. "In the Lone Star Conference, you're 'everybody' until you can win a big road match in the league. That signature win puts you in a whole other category."
After dropping the first set with a flat performance and hitting .000, the Pioneers made adjustments they needed. Down 19-20 in the second set,
Trixie Oche and
Bailey Wozniak teamed up for the block to stop the Lady Buffs' five-point run. Then down 21-22, TWU benefitted from three WT errors and a kill from Ugbaja to win 25-22 and even the match at a set apiece.
"I'm proud of how we came out in the second set," Huebner said. "We knew we had to make more than one adjustment. That was another goal the team set for this game."
It was Oche who would then dominate at the net. The sophomore middle blocker recorded her season high with 10 blocks (one block solo, nine block assists) and added 10 kills for her first double-double of the year. Also putting up block assists were
Tabitha Spray (6),
Caroline Noel (5),
Addison Mulroney (4), Wozniak (3) and Liz Ugbaja (1). The team total of 28 blocks assists in the match breaks the school record of 26 set against Angelo State on Nov. 10, 2012, and again versus Drury earlier this season.
WT (11-3, 5-2 LSC), which was riding a five-game winning streak, was stingy in the last two sets. The Lady Buffs clicked off four straight to take a 20-23 lead in the third. A kill from
Katy Ranes started the Pioneers' rally as they scored the last five points, ending with a
Caroline Noel serve that hit the net and dropped favorably for TWU to take the 25-23 win.
Both teams had runs in the last frame with the Lady Buffs stringing six points together to go up 18-22. An Oche kill started TWU's rally as the Pioneers scored six straight of their own on a combination of efficient hitting and WT errors. Oche smashed an overpass down to give TWU game point at 24-22. The Lady Buffs would register one more point before Ugbaja's kill made it 25-23 to seal the victory for the Pioneers.
"Our defense, blocking and hitting efficiency helped win us this game" Huebner said. "We got them out of their system which really helped our blockers. Trixie was unbelievable and Liz hit a ball harder than I've ever seen. There were some incredible decision-making plays being made by young players. I'm thrilled with the way Caroline played, along with Bailey and Katy."
TWU (8-7, 4-2 LSC) open a three-game homestand Tuesday against No. 14 Tarleton with first serve set for 6 p.m.
--TWUAthletics.com--
