LAWTON – The Cameron volleyball team hosted one of the best teams in the nation on Saturday as they fell in straight sets to No. 25 West Texas A&M.
Less than 24 hours after battling Eastern New Mexico in a five-set thriller, the Black and Gold had to take on a Lady Buff squad that is ranked in the AVCA top-25 poll and entered Saturday with nine Lone Star Conference wins.
WT's attack was strong against CU, hitting .254 while also holding the Aggies to a .024 clip on their home court. Part of that came from their seven blocks, besting CU by one, while the road squad also collected six points from the serice line, compared to the Aggies' two aces.
Arianna Navarrete had a team-high nine kills to go along with five digs, a block, and an ace.
Jessica Lipkit was very efficient from her spot in the middle, totaling seven kills on nine attacks with just one error for a .667 hitting percentage. The sophomore also led CU with three blocks and had an ace.
Desiree Marmolejo and
Kendall Kilchrist combined for 20 assists and 21 digs from the setter spot while
Presley Shearin led CU with 16 digs and
Bergen Campbell chipped in 12.
After dropping the first set 25-10, Cameron hung with the Lady Buffs for most of the second frame. It was not until a 5-0 run midway through the set that WT pulled out to a six-point advantage. CU was able to cut that lead in half thanks to a block by Lipkit and
Jacee Stelter, but the road team scored four of the last five points to win 25-19.
Cameron was on the high side early in the third game, as a ball handling error by WT put the Aggies up 11-8. After playing to a 13-all tie, the Lady Buffs scored seven straight points to pull out ahead of the Black and Gold. CU was unable to create a rally the rest of the way, and West Texas scored three straight to close things out 25-16 and win in straight sets.
The Aggies', who are now 1-23 overall and 0-12 in league play, hunt for their first LSC win continues next weekend on the road as they try and snap their 22-match skid at St. Edward's on Oct. 29 and St. Mary's on Oct. 30.
