Nov. 18, 2007

Box Score

KEARNEY, Neb. - The No. 10 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs ended No. 22 Nebraska-Kearney's 19-game winning streak with a 3-0 (30-28, 31-29, 30-24) sweep in the NCAA Division II Southwest Regional Final on Sunday afternoon, earning their 10th Elite Eight appearance in program history. Sophomore Natalie Johnson led WTAMU with 17 kills and two block assists while freshman Lauren Thedford had 12 kills and three block assists in addition to her team-leading 19 digs.

Sophomore Laura Prinsen finished with 11 kills and seven digs while sophomore Melissa Harper added 10 kills, five digs and six block assists to help the second-seeded Lady Buffs improve to 35-7 on the season.

"We played awesome the whole weekend, I'm really happy for us," said head coach Tony Graystone. "They've done an amazing thing this weekend, winning the regional championship on the road."

Both teams came out hitting hard but it was the top-seeded Lopers who jumped out to an early 8-4 lead. Harper took over the serve and led WT to tie the game at 10-10, but UNK picked up a kill from Cola Svec followed by two consecutive kills from Jeri Walkowiak to retake the lead at 13-10. The Lady Buffs tied the game again at 22 points apiece and at 23 points apiece before a block assist by Harper and Thedford gave WT a 24-23 lead and forced a Loper time out. A kill from junior Kelly Culley and a service ace from Prinsen gave WT a two-point cushion at 26-24, forcing UNK to call its second time out of the game.

A service ace from Nebraska-Kearney's Kelsey Werner helped the Lopers tie it up at 28-28 to force West Texas A&M to take its first time out, but the Lady Buffs came out firing and back-to-back kills from Johnson ended the first game with WT winning, 30-28.

Game two stayed tight throughout despite WT taking a 10-5 lead and forcing an early Loper time out. UNK came out of the time out and tied the game at 12 points apiece; the rest of the game saw the lead see-saw back and forth. A block assist by Harper and Johnson gave the Lady Buffs a 15-14 lead but the Lopers won a long rally a few points later to tie the game at 17-17. Two kills by Culley sandwiched around a UNK attack error pushed WT's lead to 20-17 and the Lopers took their second time out.

Consecutive attack errors by UNK's Werner extended the West Texas A&M lead to five points at 24-19, but the Lopers were able to fight back and retake the lead at 28-27 following a WT attack error. Culley tied the game again at 28-28 but consecutive errors by both teams tied the game yet again at 29-29.

The Lady Buffs won the battle, though, as kills from Johnson and Culley helped the Lady Buffs take game two by a 31-29 margin.

WTAMU rode its momentum into game three with the help of six kills from Johnson and five apiece from both Thedford and Prinsen. The Lady Buffs took their biggest lead of the match at 21-12 following a series of attack errors by the Lopers. A big block assist by Thedord and Culley kept the Lady Buffs' lead intact and kills from Johnson and Rickwartz put the nail in the coffin as WTAMU collected its 35th win of the season.

Culley and junior libero Sara Contreras were solid throughout the match as Culley finished with eight kills and three block assists and Contreras tallied 14 digs.

Setter Katie Rickwartz, who finished the match with 53 assists, eight digs and two block assists, was named to the Southwest Region All-Tournament team. Prinsen, Harper and Thedford were also honored on the all-tournament team for their outstanding play this weekend.

West Texas A&M advances to the Elite Eight where the Lady Buffs will face No. 6 Grand Valley State in the NCAA Quarterfinals, hosted by Washburn. GVSU, the top seed in the Great Lakes Region, advanced to the Elite Eight with wins over Charleston (W.V.), SIU Edwardsville and Lewis.

"Grand Valley is a top team, they have an amazing block and they've been [to the Elite Eight] many times," said Graystone. "I don't even want to think about it for a few days. They're really terrific and they have a great coach so we're going to work hard to prepare for the match-up."

All games will be streamed online and live stats will be available on CSTV.com