WICHITA FALLS, Texas – Sometimes a quick turnaround after a tough loss can be the best medicine. That was the case for the Western New Mexico University volleyball team as less than 24 hours after a shocking loss to Cameron, the Lady Mustangs regrouped and came through with a tough 3-2 (26-24, 17-25, 25-13, 20-25, 15-8) victory over Midwestern State Saturday afternoon in Lone Star Conference action.

It was a weird match that when glancing at the 3-2 score you would think was a close match, but actually four of the five sets were pretty much runaways for one of the teams. WNMU picked up the much needed win to improve to 15-10 overall and 7-7 on the conference to remain in seventh in the standings. They remain four and a half games clear of both Texas Woman's and UT Permian Basin, the two teams that could pass WNMU and knock them out of the conference tournament. With just six matches remaining in the regular season, the Lady Mustangs are close to locking up a spot in the tournament. Right now, it appears that it will be hosted by current top seed Angelo State as the 10^th ranked Rambelles are 14-1 in the conference, holding a two and a half game lead over Tarleton State, plus the tiebreaker having swept the TexAnns this year.

Junior Heather Verrill (Barstow, CA/Barstow ) and senior Shannon Rich (Folsom, CA/Folsom) piled up impressive games with Verrill racking up 19 kills and hitting .325 as she took 40 swings. Rich added 10 kills and hit .269. Verrill added five blocks, with one coming solo, while Rich had six blocks. Both teams struggled in the hitting department with WNMU posting a .181 clip to .115 for Midwestern State. The blocking was back to normal for the Lady Mustangs holding the 11 to eight advantage.

The opening set was a back-and-forth fight when Midwestern State took the early edge at 14-12. That fired up the Lady Mustangs as they responded with a 6-0 run. Junior Morgan Lyneis (Victorville, CA/Apple Valley) ignited the spurt with a kill, freshman Hannah Tishlarich (Elk Grove, CA/Pleasant Grove) added a kill and then WNMU benefited from four Midwestern State attack errors to take the 18-14 lead. During the run, Midwestern State burned through two timeouts.  Just when WNMU was posed to grab the set, Midwestern State rallied with a 5-0 run to suddenly move back in front at 22-21. Verrill recorded back-to-back kills for the 23-22 WNMU lead and then Midwestern State grabbed back the momentum and moved to set point at 24-23. Out of a WNMU timeout, junior Samantha Haupeakui (San Mateo, CA/Aragon) drilled a kill to knot the set. Then a big double-block by Rich and Haupeakui turned the set and moved WNMU to set point in which Lyneis put down with a kill at 26-24.

Midwestern State appeared frustrated from dropping the first set as they exploded for the first five points of the second set for a 5-0 lead. WNMU tried to make things interesting fighting back to within three at 16-13 on a kill by Tishlarich, but it wasn't to be with Midwestern State closing the set on a 9-4 run for the 25-17 second set win.

The Lady Mustangs took advantage of the between sets break to regroup and start the third set with a 7-2 spurt. Verrill opened the set with a solo block and was involved in all but two of the points scored by WNMU during the 7-2 start. Ahead 14-9, WNMU put the set away with a 6-0 run with Verrill starting the run with a kill. Verrill and junior Kalie Lyle (Phoenix, AZ/Sandra Day O' Connor ) combined for a block, junior Kelli McGhiey (Pearl City, HI/Sacred Hearts Academy ) spun in a service ace and then following another kill by Verrill, Verrill and Lyneis combined for the block at 20-9. Haupeakui and rich put a stamp on the set closing out the final two points with a pair of double blocks for the 25-13 set win.

Just like in set two, Midwestern State came out blazing to start the fourth firing out to the 8-2 lead. WNMU was never able to gain traction throughout the set, fighting back to within four late in the set at 24-20, but Midwestern State closed the set on the next point for the 25-20 fourth set win to move the match to a decisive fifth set.

WNMU got the jump start they needed in the fifth with Lyneis posting an early kill to ignite a 6-0 run. Verrill, Lyle and junior Melanie Hughes (Riverside, CA/Martin Luther King Jr.) added kills around two Midwestern State attack errors to take the 7-1 lead. Midwestern State made one last run to make things interesting countering with a 5-0 spurt to trim the lead down to one at 8-7 forcing a WNMU timeout. Out of the break, the Lady Mustangs responded and made sure to put the match away. Rich, freshman Cristal Carrizoza (Phoenix, AZ/North) and Lyle all collected points during a 5-0 run for the 13-7 lead. Rich and McGhiey then sealed the deal with kills over the final two points for the 15-8 set win and 3-2 match victory.

Outside of the big offensive nights from Verrill and Rich, Hughes set the table with 28 assists, Carrizoza spun in three service aces, junior Ashley Mataele (Laie, HI/Kahuku) had 22 digs and freshman Erin Moss (Honolulu, HI/University Laboratory School) made an impact with 12 digs.

Aerielle Edwards paced Midwestern State with 16 kills, Kristan Aduddell added 47 assists, Kiley Beaver had six blocks and Meghan Bettis had 24 digs.

WNMu will have a quick turnaround when they will host West Texas A&M on Tuesday night starting at 6 p.m. inside Drag's Court.