Weekly Notes (pdf)
Setting the Scene
Three days after hosting the top team in the Great American Conference, the SWOSU volleyball team faces another tough test when second-place Southern Nazarene comes to Rankin Williams Fieldhouse on Tuesday. The Crimson Storm defeated SWOSU 3-1 earlier this season in Bethany and now the Bulldogs will look to avoid the season sweep.
Following that match, SWOSU hits the road to Alva on Thursday where they will face Northwestern Oklahoma State. The Bulldogs will be going for their second consecutive season sweep of the Rangers in the match after claiming a 3-1 victory over NWOSU in Weatherford back on September 19.
Previous Meetings
Southern Nazarene's victory over SWOSU eback on October 1st snapped a two-game winning streak by the Bulldogs over the Crimson Storm. SNU now leads the all-time series 5-3. Prior to SNU joining the GAC prior to last season, the teams met in non-conference action each season from 2006-10.
Northwestern Oklahoma State reinstated their volleyball program prior to last season dropped both matches to SWOSU last year in three sets. The Rangers took the first set off of SWOSU earlier this season and now the teams are looking to build the rivalry as members of the Great American Conference that will meet twice each season.
The Coaches
Josh Collins is in his second season as the head volleyball coach at SWOSU after serving as an assistant the previous seven seasons. His first team finished 13-20 overall but rallied for a 10-4 conference record, finishing fourth in the Great American Conference. He is currently 22-37 as the Lady Bulldogs head man but 15-8 in GAC contests.
Kevin Ingram is in his 13th season at the helm of the Southern Nazarene volleyball program in 2013. He has helped transition the Crimson Storm into NCAA Division II and holds a career record of 278-205 record.
Gene Krieger is in his ?rst year at Northwestern Oklahoma State after coaching in the high school ranks in California since 2000. He also has 13 years of experience as a collegiate head coach at California Baptist and Cal Poly Pomona.
Last Time Out
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.
SWOSU 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.
Standings Check
The middle of the Great American Conference standings are still wide open with two games separating 3rd through 8th places. SWOSU is currently alone in sixth place with a 5-4 conference record and are just one game out of third place.
Tuesday's opponent, Southern Nazarene, is second in the GAC, one game behind Harding while Northwestern Oklahoma State is 1-8 in conference play and in 10th place.
New Season Records
Several SWOSU players have put their name in the top five of single-season statistical categories. Leading the way is
Alison Cole, who recently set a new record for assist blocks in a season (88) and she needs six more blocks to set a new record for total blocks in a season. Cole currently has 109 blocks (21 solo, 88 assist) for the year and the record of 114 is held by Kasandra Gurtner from 2007.
Both of the Bulldogs' top outside hitters,
Joey Collins and
Carly Zak, are in the top five for single-season attack attempts and kills per set. Zak has 330 kills (3.63 per set) in 893 attempts as a freshman while Collins has put away 288 kills, an average of 3.03 per set) in 937 total attempts.
Breann Whitaker has dished out 688 assists this season, the sixth-most at SWOSU in a season, and she now needs 20 assists to become the fifth player in Bulldog history to record 1,000 assists in their career.
Climbing Career Lists
Five current players can be found in the top ten lists for various career statistics as well.
Joey Collins (586) and
Alison Cole (506) rank seventh and eighth, respectively, in career kills at SWOSU while
Carly Zak has the highest career average with 3.63 kills per set.
Cole also ranks second in attack percentage (.246) and total blocks (210) while Collins'1,943 attack attempts ranks her fourth in SWOSU history.
Breann Whitaker ranks fifth in assists (980) and assists per set (5.10) at SWOSU while
Kaila Lancaster has climbed to seventh in career digs with 686.
Looking Ahead
East Central comes to Rankin Williams Fieldhouse next Tuesday for conference action before the Dawgs head to Arkansas one last time to face Arkansas Tech on Saturday.
