WTAMU volleyball splits weekend games at Lone Star Conference crossover tournament

It was an up and down weekend for the No. 3-ranked West Texas A&M Lady Buff volleyball team at the Lone Star Conference crossover tournament at the Burg Center in Dallas on Friday and Saturday.

The Lady Buffs didn’t get off to the best of starts falling to rival Angelo State (21-25, 25-18, 22-25, 17-25), on Friday before rebounding for a four-set victory against No. 20 Dallas Baptist on Saturday, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-23.

These matches didn’t count toward the Lady Buffs conference record. WTAMU (7-3 overall) are set to open LSC play on the road facing Western New Mexico on Thursday and at UT Permian Basin on Saturday.

WTAMU struggled at times against the No. 21-ranked Rambelles. Despite defeat, WTAMU finished the night with 51 kills on 126 attempts with 14 attack errors to hit ,294 on the night with 51 assists, two aces, 33 digs and six blocks.

Emma Becker sparked the Lady Buff offense knocking down 12 kills on 33 swings with just four errors to hit .242 in the match with five assists and five digs. Hereford graduate and junior Taytum Stow was efficient for the Lady Buffs with 11 kills on 14 attempts with one error to go along with four blocks. Ainsley Malis dished out 30 assists with seven digs while Canyon graduate Bryli Contreras also had seven digs in the back row.

Angelo State was led by Madi Parrish who finished the night with a match-high 22 kills on 40 attempts with three attack errors for a hitting percentage of .475 to go along with two assists, one ace and three digs. Adeline Ortman paced the ASU offense with 49 assists to go along with five digs while Caleigh Enax had a match-high 12 digs in the back row.

On Saturday, the Lady Buffs played much better volleyball against DBU led by Amarillo High graduate Curry Marusak.

The junior transfer from Texas Tech registered a season-high 13 kills on 32 swings with just two errors for an attack percentage of .344 to go along with six digs and five blocks. Teammate Hannah Pemberton dished out a team-high 12 digs to go along with eight digs while Contreras led the way in the back row with eight digs and three aces.

The Lady Buffs ended the match with 43 kills on 130 attempts with just nine attack errors to hit .262 as a team with 28 assists, three aces, 36 digs and 14 blocks.