For the first time in 25 years, the No. 9 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs are crowned NCAA Division II National Champions after defeating No. 3 Concordia-St. Paul in four sets on Saturday in Seattle.
Bryli Contreras, Abi Nash, Kayla Elliot and Torrey Miller earned All-Tournament honors. Miller was named the National Tournament Most Valuable Player.
WT finished the season with a 33-4 record and won its last 26-matches.
WT hit .307 overall in the championship match with 62 kills on 150 swings with 16 errors to go along with 56 assists, 56 digs, 12 blocks and five aces.
Concordia-St. Paul ended its season hitting .261 with 67 kills on 165 swings with 24 errors, 63 digs, 65 assists, seven blocks and six aces.
Senior Kayla Elliot led the night, matching a career-high 17 kills followed by senior Abi Nash with 15 and Torrey Miller with 14 while Nash had three aces.
Blair Moreland and Ainsley Malis combined for 48 assists to pace the offense while Bryli Contreras collected 17 digs with Camy Jones leading at the net with eight blocks.
THE MILESTONES
- WT won its first National Championship title since 1997
- The Lady Buffs now have a postseason record of 58-25 during the NCAA Tournament with their fourth national title, first under Kendra Potts
- Kendra Potts, the AVCA National Coach of the Year, moves to 9-2 in the NCAA Tournament with an 91-10 career record for an incredible winning percentage of 91%
- Potts becomes the fourth head coach to lead WT to a national title joining Kim Hudson, Jim Giacomazzi, and Debbie Hendrick