CANYON, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team was handed its sixth loss of the season on Friday night, suffering a 25-12, 25-19, 25-14 setback at the hands of the No. 25 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs in Lone Star Conference action at the Box in Canyon, Texas.

This defeat puts the Javelinas at 6-6 in conference and 12-6 overall. The Lady Buffs improve to 17-2 and 11-1 in the LSC.

"I thought we did a pretty good job tonight on defense," said coach Tanya Allen. "We struggled to get kills because the tempo of our offense was a little bit off, but I'm confident that if we speed it up a little, we can get more kills."

Junior Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas) finished as the team-leader in digs with 11, while freshman Sydney Whitmire (Tarkington, Texas) led the Javs with nine assists. Junior Kailey Estrada (San Antonio, Texas) and sophomore Tammy Jo Grohman (San Antonio, Texas) each had five kills.

The opening set saw the Lady Buffs jump out to a 6-1 lead and never look back. WT would hit .424 in the frame, with Camy Jones and Torrey Miller leading the way for the home team, as both players contributed five kills each without an error. The home team's 1-0 lead in sets was clinched by back-to-back smashes courtesy of Abi Nash.

The Javelinas quickly found themselves in another hole to start the second set, falling behind 9-2, but they immediately staged a comeback. Trailing by six soon after at 14-8, the Javs notched nine of the next 11 points, helped by multiple smashes from senior Kapri Pelle (Auburn, Calif.) and Estrada, and took at 17-16 lead. Unfortunately for the visitors, it was a short-lived advantage, as WT responded with a 9-2 run to lock up the game and a 2-0 edge.

Four of the first five points to start the third went to the Javelinas, only for WT to answer with a stretch in which they took eight of nine rallies for a 9-5 lead. TAMUK closed within one at 10-9, but the Lady Buffs took over soon after that, winning 15 of the night's final 20 points, with a Jones' kill concluding the evening.

TAMUK will have a chance to get back in the win column on Saturday, when they'll be in Portales, N.M. for a 1 p.m. match against the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds. Fans can stay up-to-date with all of the latest news surrounding Javelina volleyball by following @Javelina_VB and @JavelinaSports on Twitter, @JavelinaVB and @JavelinaSports on Instagram, liking TAMUK Volleyball on Facebook, subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel and visiting Javelinaathletics.com.

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