The WTAMU Lady Buff volleyball team was back in LSC action Nov. 4 in Abilene taking on the #20 ranked Abilene Christian Lady Wildcats.
ACU threw everything it had at WT, including having the entire crowd of 1,500 wear purple for the match. But not even a “purple-rush” could stop the Lady Buffs as they swept the Lady Wildcats.
In the first set, ACU seemed to have control with leads of 10-7 and 18-14. The turning point of the set came when WT was down 24-21. Following a timeout called by head coach Jason Skoch, the Lady Buffs tied the game at 24-24 thanks to a cross court kill from senior Lauren Thedford. Freshman Ashley Davis gave WT the advantage with a kill on the next point. ACU committed an error on the next possession to give the Lady Buffs a 26-24 first set win.
Despite making multiple runs in the second set, ACU never quite found their rhythm and eventually fell to the offensive output by the Lady Buffs in the second set, dropping it by a score of 25-21.
The third set started out just as close as the first two did. Both teams were trading points early as WT jumped out to an early 12-8 lead. ACU fought back to make the score interesting at 13-11, but the Lady Buffs had other ideas. The Lady Wildcats couldn’t stop WT from going on a 5-1 run after that to put them in firm control of the match. WT eventually got the sweep winning the third set 25-20.
Junior Erika Dupree recorded her 19th double-double on the night with 26 assists and 13 digs. Senior Teresa Dunn tallied 16 assists on the night.
Leading the offensive output for the Lady Buffs were Thedford and Davis, who both had 11 kills on the night. Sophomore Libero Lauren Beville had 12 digs on the night. Sophomore Erin Dougherty hit .750 on the night as the Lady Buffs hit .283 as a team.
With the victory, WT extends its NCAA record winning streak over conference opponents to 79 games. Their overall record stands at 23-8 overall with a perfect 13-0 mark in LSC play. ACU falls to 24-4 overall and 12-1 in LSC play.
The Lady Buffs will play Nov. 6 against Angelo State at the Junell Center. With a win WT will claim the top seed and the right to host the LSC tournament. First serve is set for 2 p.m.
