No. 11 West Texas A&M 3, A&M-Commerce 0
Location: WTAMU Fieldhouse • Canyon, Texas
Records: A&M-Commerce (16-7, 7-6 LSC); West Texas A&M (19-3, 10-2 LSC)
Up Next: at Abilene Christian • Tuesday, October 23 • 7 p.m.
CANYON, Texas – A&M-Commerce historically has struggled at "The Box" at West Texas A&M and Saturday afternoon was no different as the 11th-ranked Lady Buffs had their way with the Lions, handing A&M-Commerce a 13-25, 17-25, 19-25 defeat. The loss snaps the Lions' four-match winning streak as A&M-Commerce falls to 16-7 on the year and 7-6 in Lone Star Conference play.
Rachel Robertson once again was the top A&M-Commerce contributor, recording 10 kills hitting .381 with a block, followed by six kills and a block by Kayla Bond and five kills from Chelsee Hudson. Ezon Onditi posted four kills while Breanne Snyder was held in check by West Texas A&M, finishing with just two kills.
Jordan Neal dished out 25 assists on the day with 15 digs, notching another double-double with a pair of blocks and three service aces. Michaela Spicer once again led the way with 21 digs defensively, complemented by seven from Morgan Moeller.
After opening up with a sluggish start at Eastern New Mexico Friday evening, A&M-Commerce knew it would need to pounce out of the gates quickly to notch the upset against West Texas A&M. But it was the Lady Buffs that established their momentum early, racing out to a 7-1 lead in the opening set and never looking back. The Lions would pull to within three at 13-10 off back-to-back aces from Neal, but that was as close as A&M-Commerce would get as West Texas A&M outscored the Lions 12-3 down the stretch to take the opener 25-13.
A&M-Commerce seemed to find itself early in the second set, matching West Texas A&M point for point in the early going and holding a slim 12-11 lead. But the Lady Buffs once again found their groove, outscoring A&M-Commerce 14-5 over the second half of the set, including a 4-0 run to close out the second to notch a 25-17 victory over the Lions.
Once again, A&M-Commerce had a strong start in the third, building a three-point cushion a handful of times in the early going. But fueled on by its homecourt advantage, West Texas A&M used a 9-4 run to break the set open at 18-15, then held off the Lions to take the third 25-19 and notch its sixth-straight victory over A&M-Commerce.
The Lions close out their three-match road swing this Tuesday when they travel to Abilene for an LSC showdown with the Wildcats. Abilene Christian sits two games back of the Lions at 5-8 in conference play and is 9-14 overall. Opening serve is set for 7 p.m. with live video and live stats available at LionAthletics.com.
