After blowing a 2-0 lead Friday against Tarleton, the Lady Buffs took a 2-0 lead against No. 11 Angelo State and eventually took the win in a high scoring 3-2 match.
The Lady Buffs won the fifth set 15-13 off of a kill from sophomore Kameryn Hayes. The Lady Buffs had three players with double-digit kills. Senior Erin Dougherty had 16 kills while senior Stormi Lancaster and sophomore Kameryn Hayes each had 19. Lancaster lead the team in hitting percentage at 41 percent.
“That felt good,” Lancaster said. “I haven’t hit like that in a while. It was nice to come out here and be able to be that go to player I used to be.”
The Lady Buffs and the Belles only had one set in which the margin of victory was a double-digit number. The Lady Buffs won the first two sets 25-23 and 25-13. Angelo State won the next two sets 19-25 and 23-25 to force a nail biter in the fifth. While the Lady Buffs did not have a repeat of Friday night, where they lost in three straight sets to Tarleton, Head Coach Jason Skoch knows there’s work to be done.
“We’re going to work on some hitting stuff,” Skoch said. “Then I want to make sure I don’t overcorrect. I don’t know if other coaches talk about this stuff but I think sometimes you can overcorrect.”
Despite falling behind by three or more points six times, it was the only contributing factor in one loss. Lancaster feels that coming from behind in the fashion they did speaks for the kind of team that they are.
“It’s a big confidence booster because the ball could have rolled just like it did last night with going to five sets and then losing,” Lancaster said. “I just think that we proved how much fighters that we really are.”
The Lady Buffs will be on the road starting Oct. 5 against Incarnate Word, but before then both Lancaster and Skoch believes that the emphasis should be on coming together as a team in big moments.
“What we’re going to stress is team,” Skoch said. “Even if you’re a starter or nonstarter, we’re going to sit there and if you don’t produce, the whole team is suffering and we’re going to make them talk to each other.”
After Incarnate Word, the Lady Buffs stay on the road on Oct. 6 against Texas A&M-Kingsville and Oct. 13 facing rival Abilene Christian University. The Lady Buffs start their home stand against Eastern New Mexico on Oct. 16.
