West Texas A&M finished a big weekend of volleyball with a bang on Saturday night as they claimed the program’s fourth title at the historic Colorado Premier Challenge in a five-set thriller over No. 9 Chaminade (25-19, 23-25, 22-25, 25-19, 15-4) at the Auraria Event Center in Denver, Colo.
This is the fourth Colorado Premier Challenge tournament title in school history and (1999, 2001, 2012).
The No. 9-ranked Lady Buffs (6-2 overall) went 3-1 during the Premiere Challenge facing four ranked opponents over Friday and Saturday.
WTAMU opened Friday falling to No. 4 Missouri-St. Louis in five-sets (25-23, 16-25, 21-25, 25-23, 13-15), then rebounded to down No. 24 Regis in four (25-17, 25-17, 20-25, 25-17).
To start Saturday, the Lady Buffs went five with No. 5-ranked Concordia getting a thrilling, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13, win before beating Chaminade to close out the weekend.
In Saturday’s final match, the Lady Buffs finished the night with 62 kills on 151 swings with 21 attack errors to hit .272 in the match with 59 assists, four aces, 63 digs and 10 blocks.
Emma Becker led the way for the Lady Buffs as the junior finished with 17 kills on 50 swings with just six attack errors to hit .220 on the night with one ace and 16 digs for a double-double.
Kaycee Cavanaugh was stellar for the Lady Buffs as the freshman had 14 kills on 30 swings with five errors to hit .300 with 12 digs, Ainsley Malis paced the WT offense with 27 assists while Bryli Contreras had 21 digs in the back row.
Becker and Canyon graduate Contreras were named to the All-Tournament team.
WTAMU stays on the road heading to the Lone Star Conference crossover tournament which begins Friday in Dallas. The Lady Buffs will play rival Angelo State at 6 p.m. on Friday and Dallas Baptist at 1 p.m. on Saturday.