The No. 9-ranked Lady Buffs of WTAMU extended their current winning streak to 13 matches with three Lone Star Conference victories over Eastern New Mexico, Midwestern State and Cameron. The Lady Buffs continued their current home winning streak to 20 consecutive victories at “The Box.”
Head coach Jason Skoch is enjoying the victories, but he is preparing his squad for the tougher road ahead.
“Overall, we are ‘ho hum,’” Skoch said. “We are struggling to find ‘us’ and play that way every match. This week’s practices were bad and it showed how thin we are [in overall team depth]. I wanted to put some other players in, but they didn’t push and others I couldn’t substitute because their position [they would be replacing] was doing well and we needed them.”
WT defeated ENMU on Oct. 15 in four sets [25-19, 26-24, 22-25, 25-14] behind junior Lauren Bevan’s team leading 14 kills. Redshirt senior Laura Iwuchukwu had ten kills and senior Lee Golden had eight. Junior Kameryn Hayes served up 42 assists and redshirt freshman Lauren Britten tallied 21 digs.
Versus MSU on Oct. 18 the Lady Buffs defeated the Mustangs [17-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-11] behind senior Halie Harton, as she imposed her will with 20 kills and 15 digs for a double double. Iwuchukwu hammered down eleven kills and Hayes recorded 47 assists and ten digs for a double-double. Britten and senior Keia Strother racked up twelve digs apiece.
“Halie did quite well on Saturday and okay on Friday,” Skoch said. “Things are starting to click for her, and it shows what true dedication brings with time. I wish other players could see that.”
On Oct. 19 WT swept the Aggies of Cameron [25-22, 25-20, 25-21] behind Harton and sophomore Lexi Davis, who had eleven and eight kills, respectively. Bevan and Hayes teamed up to record seven kills apiece, and Hayes continued setting her teammates up with 30 assists. Britten continued to scrap with 14 digs.
“My goal is to see if the players can find a way of getting themselves out of funks instead of just staying in them,” Skoch said. “My second goal is to see if we can play a complete match where everyone comes with the same mental focus – so far we only get four players committed to a match.”
The Lady Buffs improved their overall record to 19-3 while staying undefeated in LSC play at 9-0.
WT will travel to Kingsville, Texas to take on Texas A&M-Kingsville on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m. They will turn around and head to Lawton, Oklahoma on Oct. 29 to face off against the Aggies of Cameron at 7 p.m.
