November 18, 2007
West Texas Beat Volleyball in Southwest Finals
Lady Buffs Edge Lopers in First Two Sets, Then Sweep Match
Kearney, Neb. – The 10th-ranked West Texas A & M Lady Buffs won two close sets and then jumped out to a big lead in the third game to beat the 22nd-ranked Nebraska-Kearney volleyball team (-28, -29, -24) in the Southwest Regional finals of the NCAA Tournament Sunday afternoon in Kearney.
WTAMU (35-7) returns to the Elite Eight for the second straight season and will play 6th-ranked Grand Valley State (Mich.) in one national quarterfinal match. It will be played Nov. 29th at a site to be determined.
With today's win, WTAMU improves to 33-14 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and picks up its fifth Southwest title in the last nine years. UNK (33-5) sees a 19-match win streak snapped and drops to 5-3 in regional final matches.
The Lopers also fall to 162-9 in the Rick Squiers era at home (1999-present). This is only the second time UNK has been swept at the Health & Sports Center since 1999; Metro State did it in a 2001 regular season match.
In game one, UNK jumped out to an 8-3 lead and managed to stay ahead of the Buffs most of the way. With both teams clicking on offense, the key came to serving and passing where West Texas had an advantage. For the set, the Buffs served up three more aces and saw UNK serve up two more errors, a plus five advantage.
West Texas grabbed it's second lead of the game, 24-23, after a kill by Laura Prinsen and a block from Melissa Harper and Lauren Thedford. A Prinsen ace got the Buffs lead to two, 26-24, but UNK tied things up at 28 on an Erica Burson (Gretna) kill and an ace from freshman Kelsey Werner (Grand Island).
After a WT timeout, the Buffs got back-to-back kills from Natalie Johnson to win the set and take a 1-0 lead. For the game, UNK hit a super .439 (22-4-41) with WT close behind at .333 (18-4-42).
The second set was also a battle and featured 13 ties and four lead changes. Both teams cooled off as the defense picked up, UNK hitting .222 (21-7-63) and the Buffs at .246 (21-7-57).
This time, West Texas led most of the way but UNK hung around, just like the Buffs did in game one. Trailing 27-24, UNK moved ahead by one thanks to three kills, one from Burson and two from freshman Jeri Walkowiak, and a WT attack error.
Just like the first set, the game would be tied at 28 as WT got a kill from Kelly Culley. The Buffs reached match point, thanks to a block, but their attack error allowed things to be tied once again.
However, just like the first game, WT scored the final two points, getting kills from Johnson and Culley. For the set, WT had a plus two advantage in the serve game.
In game three, UNK fell behind 21-12 before closing the gap to 24-22. During this run, WT had six unforced attack errors. A Lady Buffs block got the lead back to three and the Lopers never got closer then that. Kills by Johnson and setter Katie Rickwartz scored the final two points of the match.
For the afternoon, West Texas finished with five more kills, 61-56, and four more service aces, five to one. The Lady Buffs also dug up six more balls, 62-56, and won the block game, 9.0 to 8.0.
Walkowiak (Grand Island) had a team-high 18 kills and hit .483 while also recording four blocks. Sophomore Nikki Scott (Broken Bow) also had four blocks and was the only other Loper in double digits in kills (10).
Sophomore Shannon Clausen (Beatrice) did hit .438 and recording nine kills, seven digs and two blocks. Six different Lopers had at leas five digs with setter Cola Svec (Elkhorn) leading with 11.
A balanced West Texas attack was led by Johnson (team-high 17 kills), a 6-0 outside hitter. Also on the outside, Prinsen had 11 kills with middles Thedford (12) and Harper (10) also big factors. Harper also had team-highs in attack percentage (.400) and blocks (six).
Finally, Thedford dug up a team-best 19 balls.
All-Tournament Team (no MVP named)
Laura Prinsen, West Texas A & M
Melissa Harper, West Texas A & M
Lauren Thedford, West Texas A & M
Katie Rickwartz, West Texas A & M
Nikki Scott, UNK
Jeri Walkowiak, UNK
Cola Svec, UNK
Mari Araujo, Central Oklahoma
Katie Schult, Central Oklahoma
Kelsey Ellis, Metro State
Sara Feehan, Fort Lewis
Brooke Akers, Colorado-Colorado Springs
Pictured below areScott-Walkowiak-Svec
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Contact:
Peter Yazvac
yazvacpa@unk.edu |