CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M hit .312, including a .467 percentage in the first set on their way to defeating the Western New Mexico University volleyball team 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-19) Friday night in Lone Star Conference action. 

The Lady Buffs (9-5, 5-1 LSC) had at least 15 kills in every set, with 16 in both the first and third set to outhit the Lady Mustangs (10-6, 2-3 LSC). WNMU had 36 kills, but were held to a .139 percentage. It was the second match in a row when the Lady Mustangs didn't out block their opponent with West Texas A&M taking the 10-7 edge.  

West Texas A&M exploded out of the gate with the first five points of the opening set. Down 19-7, WNMU started the make a comeback with two kills from junior Morgan Lyneis (Victorville, CA/Apple Valley), junior Kalie Lyle (Phoenix, AZ/Sandra Day O' Connor ) and senior Shannon Rich (Folsom, CA/Folsom). Freshman Hannah Tishlarich (Elk Grove, CA/Pleasant Grove) added a kill and following an attack error, the Lady Mustangs pulled back to within seven, but that would be as close as they could get with the Lady Buffs scoring the next three points for a 25-15 first set win. 

Following a double-block by Tishlarich and junior Samantha Haupeakui (San Mateo, CA/Aragon), WNMU was tied at 4 early in the second set before the Lady Buffs ripped off a 5-0 run to take control of the set. From that point on, West Texas A&M had the lead around five the rest of the set taking the 25-19 set win and 2-0 match lead. 

The third set appeared to be getting away at 11-6 in favor of the Lady Buffs, but a pair of attack errors and then a double-block from Lyneis and Rich had WNMU back to within two at 11-9. West Texas A&M answered with their own 3-0 run and never looked back. WNMU tried to fight back late with Lyneis and junior Heather Verrill (Barstow, CA/Barstow ) combining for a block, two kills by Verrill and then a bad set had the deficit back to just four at 23-19. The Lady Buffs regrouped collecting a kill and service ace to take the set at 25-19 and the match. 

Rich led the offense with 10 kills, while junior Melanie Hughes (Riverside, CA/Martin Luther King Jr.) set the table with 21 assists. Junior Kelli McGhiey (Pearl City, HI/Sacred Hearts Academy ) led in digs with 10, while junior Ashley Mataele (Laie, HI/Kahuku) added nine. Four Lady Mustangs tied for the team lead in blocks with three each including Rich, Verrill, Lyneis and McGhiey.  

Cori Haley tallied 11 kills to lead West Texas A&M, while Selena Batiste tallied 10 and hit .625. Batiste also led the team in assists with 25, while Lauren Britten had 15 digs. 

WNMU will conclude their road swing Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. (Central Time) at UT Permian Basin. The Falcons lost 3-0 to Eastern New Mexico earlier tonight.