Box Score

DENVER, Colo. – No. 3 West Texas A&M's Melissa Harper recorded a match-high 17 kills to lead her Buffaloes to a 3-1 (16-25, 25-17, 25-18, 26-24) victory over No. 8 Southwest Minnesota State Saturday morning at the Colorado Premier Challenge on the campus of Metro State in Denver, Colo.

WTAMU improves to 7-1, while SMSU drops to 5-2.

Harper's performance was indicative of a solid offensive campaign by the Buffaloes, who posted a .215 hitting percentage on the morning.

It was a fairly balanced offensive effort on behalf of the Mustangs, but not quite as potent as the WTAMU performance. Mary Groth and Devin Diedrich each finished with a team-high 12 kills, while Brooke Burmeister and Tory Brouwer had nine apiece.

Sara Graf dished out a match-high 38 assists in the loss, also adding six kills and eight digs to her performance.

Kenzie Niesche dug up a team-high 16 balls in the loss.

The Mustangs looked sharp in the opening set, hitting their way to a 10-point lead at 15-5 off a Crissi Schewe kill. SMSU charged ahead behind the hitting of Diedrich and Groth.  And Diedrich fittingly smashed the final kill of the set to put her Mustangs up 1-0.

WTAMU jumped out an early 6-1 advantage in the ensuing set, and that five-point lead grew and held throughout as the Buffaloes capped a dominant second set by decisively blocking a Brouwer attack from the right side for set point.

Another lead stretched out again for WTAMU in the third set. The Buffaloes never trailed, setting on a seven-point advantage to close the set and go ahead 2-1.

But SMSU looked poised to make the charge back in the fourth set, using a pair of Graf kills to take a 9-6 lead. The advantage, however, would not last as WTAMU brought the set to a 19-19 tie when Groth sent an attack into the net. Another mistake by SMSU allowed the Buffaloes to take a 21-20 lead. In the closing moments, after an exchange of leads, two kills from WTAMU's Harper accounted for the final two Buffalo points and the resulting match victory.

The Buffaloes were also on their game defensively, specifically at the net. WTAMU recorded nine blocks and had consistent answers for the hard-hit balls coming from SMSU's middles.

SMSU will play the loser of this afternoon's match between Metro State and Northwest Nazarene at 2:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. CST).

To view a photo gallery from Friday morning's match, click here.