Volleyball swept in NCAA Tournament
Bulldogs lose 3-0 to West Texas A&M in first round
Brent Foster
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: Sports
WARRENSBURG, MO.
THURSDAY, NOV. 19, 2009
West Texas A&M University made sure Truman's NCAA Tournament stay was short. The Buffs jumped out to early leads in all three sets and pounded Truman 3-0 Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Warrensburg.
The six seeded Bulldogs end the season at 24-13, while No. 3 West Texas advances to play the winner of Washburn University and the University of Nebraska-Omaha in Friday's South Central Regional Semifinal.
"We had six players that were producing today," West Texas head coach Jason Skoch said. "We hold everybody to the same level and we just took care of our side."
Truman never led in the match. The closest the Bulldogs came to a lead was a 1-1 tie in the third set.
After falling behind 7-1 in the first set, the Bulldogs showed fight. Truman chipped away at the lead and cut it to 21-20 on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Molly Sinclair. But they would not get any closer. West Texas scored four of the next five points to take the set.
The Buffs began each set with 7-1 runs, and opened set two with a 16-3 run that appeared to take the air out of Truman.
Truman never gained any momentum after the near comeback in the first set. West Texas won the second set 25-7 and outhit Truman by more than .600. Truman had eight errors and just four kills in the second set, while West Texas had 15 kills and one error.
The Buffs dominated Truman in nearly every statistical category. West Texas outhit the Bulldogs .272 to .016, and outblocked Truman 12-6. Senior middle blocker Melissa Harper had six kills for West Texas.
"We just couldn't put balls away," head coach Ben Briney said. "Our passing was there at the beginning. We just couldn't put it away. They did a good job of making some pretty good digs on hard hit balls."
This match was similar to last year's Final Four loss to California State University-San Bernardino in which the team struggled to find consistency offensively. Freshman middle blocker Megan Sharpe led the team with nine kills. Senior outside hitter Lauren Graybeal and senior right side hitter Erin Hattey combined for 12 kills, but the rest of the team combined for only seven. Five Bulldogs hit in the negatives. West Texas had no players in the negatives. Erika Dupre and Katie Rickwartz each hit above .400 for the Buffs.
THURSDAY, NOV. 19, 2009
West Texas A&M University made sure Truman's NCAA Tournament stay was short. The Buffs jumped out to early leads in all three sets and pounded Truman 3-0 Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in Warrensburg.
The six seeded Bulldogs end the season at 24-13, while No. 3 West Texas advances to play the winner of Washburn University and the University of Nebraska-Omaha in Friday's South Central Regional Semifinal.
"We had six players that were producing today," West Texas head coach Jason Skoch said. "We hold everybody to the same level and we just took care of our side."
Truman never led in the match. The closest the Bulldogs came to a lead was a 1-1 tie in the third set.
After falling behind 7-1 in the first set, the Bulldogs showed fight. Truman chipped away at the lead and cut it to 21-20 on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Molly Sinclair. But they would not get any closer. West Texas scored four of the next five points to take the set.
The Buffs began each set with 7-1 runs, and opened set two with a 16-3 run that appeared to take the air out of Truman.
Truman never gained any momentum after the near comeback in the first set. West Texas won the second set 25-7 and outhit Truman by more than .600. Truman had eight errors and just four kills in the second set, while West Texas had 15 kills and one error.
The Buffs dominated Truman in nearly every statistical category. West Texas outhit the Bulldogs .272 to .016, and outblocked Truman 12-6. Senior middle blocker Melissa Harper had six kills for West Texas.
"We just couldn't put balls away," head coach Ben Briney said. "Our passing was there at the beginning. We just couldn't put it away. They did a good job of making some pretty good digs on hard hit balls."
This match was similar to last year's Final Four loss to California State University-San Bernardino in which the team struggled to find consistency offensively. Freshman middle blocker Megan Sharpe led the team with nine kills. Senior outside hitter Lauren Graybeal and senior right side hitter Erin Hattey combined for 12 kills, but the rest of the team combined for only seven. Five Bulldogs hit in the negatives. West Texas had no players in the negatives. Erika Dupre and Katie Rickwartz each hit above .400 for the Buffs.
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