Box Score
Box Score (html)
DURANT, Okla. – The SWOSU volleyball team's top trio of hitters –
Alison Cole,
Joey Collins and
Carly Zak – combined for 43 kills and the Bulldogs had their best hitting performance in conference play on Tuesday night as they took down Southeastern Oklahoma State in four sets.
The Bulldogs won the match 3-1 by scores of 25-22, 25-13, 15-25, 28-26. The 12-point victory in the second set is the largest by SWOSU this season.
Cole came out on fire, putting down seven kills in the opening set to help SWOSU take the early lead.
Shayne Haley and
Carly Zak put down the final two kills and ended the set at 25-22. The Bulldogs cruised in the second set, taking a 6-1 lead after back-to-back service aces from
Kenya Williams. SWOSU held a lead of at least three points the entire set that grew to 25-13 after Collins finished it off with a kill.
Following intermission, Southeastern held SWOSU to just nine kills and a .111 hitting percentage in the third set as they sent the match to the fourth with a 25-15 set win.
The Bulldogs were not fazed and immediately took control of the fourth set 7-3 when
Breann Whitaker scored on back-to-back service aces. The Bulldogs maintained a steady lead throughout the set, reaching five at 15-10 before Southeastern ran off four straight points to force a SWOSU timeout with a 15-14 score.
The remainder of the set was played within three points and the team's tied at all but one point from 17-17 until 26-26. SWOSU had a match point on two occasions and faced set point at 26-25 before Cole, Haley and Collins put down three straight kills to end the set 28-26 and the match at 3-1.
As a team, SWOSU scored on 56 kills while committing only 17 hitting errors in 133 attempts. The Bulldogs .293 hitting percentage for the match is their second-best of the season and their top mark in Great American Conference action this season.
Zak and Cole had near identical numbers, finishing with 16 and 15 kills, respectively, while each committing three errors in 26 attack attempts. Zak's hitting percentage of .500 is the best by a Bulldog this season, followed closely by Cole, who hit .462 for the match. Collins added 12 kills in 41 attempts while Haley finished the match with nine kills.
SWOSU scored a season-high 11 points on service aces, led by Williams who finished with six aces, the second-most in a match in school history. Whitaker chipped in with three aces and Collins added two.
Kaila Lancaster (16), Williams (13) and
Saasha Jacobson (12) all reached double digits in digs, helping SWOSU's defense to a 68-to-54 advantage in the category.
Brandy Mader and Whitaker quarterbacked the hot-hitting offensive attack and finished with 25 and 23 assists, respectively.
The win improves SWOSU 9-16 on the year and 5-3 in Great American Conference action heading into a showdown with conference-leader Harding. The Bulldogs host the Lady Bisons at 3 pm on Saturday as part of Homecoming weekend at Southwestern Oklahoma State University.
