Box Score
Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Saturday's Homecoming festivities at Southwestern Oklahoma State University provided the Bulldog volleyball team with a huge challenge – unbeaten conference leader Harding.
Early on, the Bulldogs were up to the challenge, taking the first set 25-23 before succumbing to the Lady Bisons on the next three sets and suffering a four-set defeat. Final set scores were 25-23, 21-25, 18-25, 15-25.
The first set saw both teams playing well defensively and unable to get much going with their hitting.
Carly Zak put down four kills in the set, including the clincher, as SWOSU picked up a 25-23 win despite hitting .071 as a team. Harding improved their hitting in each set and committed just four hitting errors in both the third and fourth sets.
SWOSU, meanwhile, struggled to get going offensively and had just one player,
Joey Collins, reach double figures in kills. Collins scored on 11 kills with just four hitting errors while
Alison Cole added nine kills. Zak finished with seven kills but had eight errors, giving her a negative hitting percentage for the first time this season.
Harding got 22 kills from reigning GAC Player of the Year Mollie Arnold, 11 from Alyssa Short and 10 from Marindia Turner. The Lady Bisons were also strong at the net, blocking 11 attack attempts of the Bulldogs.
Brandy Mader led SWOSU with 18 assists and
Breann Whitaker recorded a double-double of 14 assists and 12 digs.
Kaila Lancaster finished with a team-high 13 digs in the effort. SWOSU was also strong at the net, sending back nine Harding attempts, led by four each from Cole and
Kiley Brennfoerder.
The Bulldogs, now 9-17 (5-4 GAC) on the year, host Southern Nazarene on Tuesday evening at 7 pm. SNU defeated SWOSU 3-1 earlier this season in Bethany.
