The No.9-ranked Lady Buffs had a hard time at the 2013 Colorado Premiere, held on Sep. 13-14, going 1-3 and dropping their overall record to 6-3.

“We have a lot of issues going on and it revolves around the nucleus of youth,” head coach Jason Skoch said.  “Freshmen are totally being immature in how they train and handle competition.  I am not trying to be rude, but we have very little depth because the young players are not trying to play this year.”

WT faced off against No. 1-ranked Tampa in their tournament opener, and the Spartans showed exactly why they are the cream of the crop in the nation, defeating the Lady Buffs in four sets [16-25, 20-25, 25-19, 21-25].

Senior Halie Harton led the Lady Buffs with 17 kills and twelve digs for a double-double, followed by junior Lauren Bevan with a career high eleven kills.  Junior Kameryn Hayes had 36 assists and redshirt freshman Lauren Britten had 15 digs.

In their second game of the day, the Lady Buffs hopped on top of the No. 21-ranked Rangers of Regis, taking the first two sets, 25-18, 25-21.  WT could not finish the Rangers off, however, as they dropped the next three sets, 19-25, 23-25, 11-15.

“We came out and were up 2-0,” Skoch said.  “We just showed up expecting them to lose in set three and they took it to us.  [After a timeout] Eight of their next points, we had a chance to win the point and we screwed it up.  Then, in set five, we fell apart.  That one will haunt us.  That was a win versus the team that will finish No. 1 or No. 2 in the region.”

Bevan led the Lady Buffs with 13 kills, followed by Harton and redshirt senior Laura Iwuchukwu with eleven kills apiece.  Hayes racked up 46 assists and Britten tallied 16 digs.

On Sep. 14 the Lady Buffs dropped the first two sets [23-25, 29-31] against the Grizzlies of Adams State before sweeping the last three sets for a victory [25-11, 25-17, 15-13].

Harton and Bevan led the team with 16 kills apiece and senior Lee Golden chipped in with 14 kills of her own.  Hayes racked up 52 assists and Britten had 12 digs.

The night cap saw the Moccasins of Florida Southern defeat the Lady Buffs in four sets [21-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-17].

Bevan led the team with 13 kills, followed by Harton with twelve.  Harton also had 21 digs, Hayes had 40 assists and 17 digs, and Britten racked up 16 digs of her own.

“[We] need to be creative in how we can coach these players,” Skoch said.  “They are not naturally driven to want to win, even though they could win big.  These players have to want to pursue defensive greatness, and that will translate into working harder at practice.”

The Lady Buffs will open conference play in Wichita Falls, Texas, against the Mustangs of Midwestern State at 7 p.m.