The No. 8-ranked West Texas A&M Lady Buffs got the Terry Gamble era started off on the right foot going 4-0 under the first-year head coach to open the 2025 campaign in front of the home fans at the WTAMU Fieldhouse on Friday and Saturday during the Lady Buff Britkare Classic.
WTAMU started things off Friday getting a sweep of CSU-Pueblo (25-16, 25-19, 25-18) and Western Colorado (25-12, 25-9, 25-11). On Saturday, the Lady Buffs carried their winning ways sweeping CSU-Pueblo again (25-16, 25-22, 27-25) and knocking off Oklahoma Baptist in four-sets (25-13, 21-25, 25-18, 25-13).
The Lady Buffs (4-0 overall) now hit the road for the first time this season on Wednesday night to take on the Grizzlies of Adams State at Plachy Hall in Alamosa, Colo., with first serve set for 7:00 p.m.
The Lady Buffs will remain in Colorado to take part in the best Division II tournaments in the country as they travel to Denver, Colorado for the Colorado Premier Challenge. WT will face off with #18 Bentley and #16 Point Loma on Friday with bracket play starting on Saturday. WT looks to defend their crown as the 2024 Lady Buffs went a perfect 4-0 against ranked teams on the way to the program’s fourth Premier title.
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Friday’s matches
Amarillo High graduate Currie Marusak led the way for the Lady Buffs as the Amarillo High finishing with a game-high 15 kills on 33 swings to hit .333 along with an assist and four digs. Teammate Emma Becker added 13 added and 12 digs for a double-double.
Bromli Watson had a great debut for the Lady Buffs with 29 assists, seven digs, three blocks, three kills and an ace.
The Lady Buffs finished the match hitting .289 as a team with 43 kills on 114 swings and 10 errors to go along with two aces, 61 digs, and eight blocks. CSU Pueblo hit just .110 as a team with 37 kills and 22 errors on 136 attempts to go along with one ace, 52 digs and four blocks.
Lady Buff Hall of Fame coach Terry Gamble registered his first career victory for the Lady Buffs.
Against Western Colorado, Marusak was at it again with 12 kills on 18 swings. Hereford graduate and senior All-American Taytum Stow was dominant on the front row with seven kills with three blocks adding a career high seven digs. Watson paced the offense with 27 digs.
WTAMU started fast in the nightcap and never looked back as they registered 36 kills on 68 swings for an attack percentage of .382 to go along with 33 assists, three service aces, 38 digs and seven blocks.
Saturday’s matches
In a second weekend win over CSU-Pueblo, Marusak continued her monster weekend with 17 kills to go with two digs and a block. Becker and Stow added 10 kills with Watson dishing out a match-high 37 assists with 13 digs for a double-double.
The Lady Buffs hit .263 as a team with 45 kills on 118 swings with 14 attack errors to go along with three aces, 53 digs and eight blocks. CSU Pueblo registered 42 kills on 125 attempts with 20 errors for a team attack percentage of .176 with 37 assists, four aces, 50 digs and five blocks.
In the nightcap against OBU, Becker was the catalyst for the offense as the senior from Liberty Hill had 22 kills on 41 swings and just four errors to hit .439 on the night with nine digs, Stow finished the night with 13 kills and nine blocks while Marusak had 12 kills. Watson paced the WTAMU offense with 44 assists and 11 digs for a double-double
The Lady Buffs totaled 56 on 123 swings with 16 attack errors to hit .325 as a team to go along with 52 assists, 52 digs, six aces and 10 blocks.