Photo by Tammy Luksich.
WTAMU Lady Buffs finished 2-2 at the Colorado Premiere Challenge Tournament in Denver, Colo, Sept. 4-5. The Lady Buffs finished 7-2 overall.
In the first game, WT slid past Lewis University in five sets. The Lady Buffs completed the game with scores 25-20, 15-25, 25-17, 20-25 and 15-11.
Senior right side hitter Laura Prinsen, led the offensive attack with 17 kills. Teammate Lauren Thedford followed with 14 and Natalie Johnson added 10. On the defensive side, freshman libero, Lauren Beville shoveled 14 digs alongside senior setter, Katie Rickwartz with 12.
“We accomplished some good wins against high ranked teams,” Thedford said. “We still have a lot to work on to stay consistent throughout matches and tournaments.”
The second game seemed to be more challenging for the Lady Buffs as they fell to #12 Central Missouri in five sets. The final scores of the game were 26-24, 25-15, 25-19, 25-21 and 15-11.
Rickwartz tallied 36 assists in the game with Thedford nabbing 13 kills to lead the team.
“Our mental mistakes centered around us staying focused,” Thedford said. “In many games we were up and only needed to win one more game, but we allowed the other team to go on runs of 3 or more points.”
In the third game, WT rebounded from their loss to sail past #8 Southwest Minnesota State in four sets. The final scores of the game were 16-25, 25-17, 25-18 and 26-24 to land WT a slot in the championship game of the silver bracket.
Senior middle blocker Melissa Harper shined as she led the team with 17 kills. Harper added two block assists and one solo block. On the defensive side, Thedford notched 14 digs while sophomore middle blocker, Lauren Purdy posted six block assists.
“Right now we’ve definitely been preparing to start off games a lot better, tougher and faster,” Prinsen said.
In the championship game, #23 Metro State got the best of WT defeating them in five sets. The scores were 25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 22-25 and 10-15.
This time Prinsen brought her senior leadership to the floor. She finished the game with 18 kills and 11 digs. Thedford and Beville led the defense with 18 and 17 digs. Rickwartz also added 15 digs and 38 assists.
“We went 2-2 by staying strong in the 5th game. Unfortunately, we had the opportunity to go 4-0 this weekend, but we just didn’t put the ball away when we needed to,” Thedford said.
“The Denver tournament is always tough but we’re glad we could learn from playing high level teams.”
Next up the Lady Buffs travel to Bellingham, Wash., for the Western Washington Tournament on Sept. 11-12. WT faces the Central Washington Wildcats in the first round beginning Friday at 9:00 a.m.