Southwest Baptist (2-2) Fri., Sept. 13, 12 pm Live Stats

CSU-Pueblo (0-5) Fri., Sept.13, 8 pm Live Stats

Lindenwood (1-4) Sat., Sept. 14, 12 pm Live Stats

#8 Wayne State (4-0) Sat., Sept. 14, 6 pm Live Stats

Setting the Scene
      The second week of tournament action takes the SWOSU volleyball team to Colorado, where they will participate in the CSU-Pueblo Thunderwolves Classic. SWOSU will face Southwest Baptist and CSU-Pueblo on Friday before finishing against Lindenwood and No. 8-ranked Wayne State.
 
Previous Meetings
      All four of the opponents SWOSU will face in Pueblo are unfamiliar faces for the Lady Bulldogs. SBU, CSU-Pueblo and Wayne State will all be meeting SWOSU for just the second time in history while it will be the first meeting between SWOSU and Lindenwood.
      SWOSU faced Wayne State in tournament action early in the 2006 season, Southwest Baptist during the 2009 season and opened the 2012 season against CSU-Pueblo.
 
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 currenly 16-22 as the Lady Bulldogs head man.
      Kelly Richardson enters her sixth season as head volleyball coach for the SBU Bearcat volleyball program. Richardson has guided the volleyball Bearcats to improved play in her first five seasons and holds an overall record of 68-135.
      Jen Gomez is in her third season at CSU-Pueblo after leading Oklahoma City for five seasons. She has a record of 30-33 at CSU-Pueblo.
      Ron Young is in his 15th season as a volleyball coach at Lindenwood in 2013-14, including his 12th season as the head coach of the women's program. Young has won a combined 666 matches and 12 conference championships.
      Scott Kneifl is in his 9th season as the head volleyball coach at Wayne State College.  He has guided the Wildcat program to eight straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and has an impressive career record of 206-70.
 
Last Time Out
      After finishing 2-2 at the Midwestern State / Hampton Inn-vitational, the SWOSU volleyball team hosted Oklahoma City on Tuesday night at Rankin Williams Fieldhouse for the home opener. Behind 13 kills from Carly Zak and 11 from Joey Collins, the Lady Bulldogs treated the electric Rankin crowd to a three-set victory, claiming the third set 30-28.     
 
The Foes
      Southwest Baptist enters the weekend 2-2 after playing in the Henderson State Classic last week. SBU went 1-1 against GAC competition, defeating Henderson State and falling to Southern Arkansas. They also defeated Cameron and lost to Texas A&M-Commerce.
      CSU-Pueblo played in Texas last weekend, ending with an 0-5 record. The Thunderwolves lost in three sets to West Texas A&M and Angelo State, four sets to Tarleton State and five sets against Arkansas-Fort Smith and Dallas Baptist.
      Lindenwood went winless at the Drury Invitational last weekend before defeating Illinois-Springfield on Tuesday night. The Lions losses were to GAC foe Arkansas Tech, Northern State, St. Cloud State and Drury.
      Wayne State had possibly the best weekend in NCAA Division II to open the season, going unbeaten at the Concordia-St. Paul tournament. Included in their wins were No. 1-ranked Concordia, No. 9 Indianapolis and No. 11 Colorado Mines. WSC moved up to No. 8 in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll.
 
Welcome Addition
      Freshman outside hitter Carly Zak has quickly made a name for herself in the SWOSU lineup. Through five matches, Zak is averaging 3.0 kills/set and she ranks second on the team with 49 kills. She has also been efficient, hitting .219 with 20 attack errors in 16 sets played. In SWOSU's three wins, Zak has reached double-figures in kills which included a season-high 14 against Eastern New Mexico in the season opener.
 
Atop the GAC Ranking
      After recording the third-best single season hitting percentage (.250) in SWOSU volleyball history last season, Alison Cole appears primed to build on that number this season. After five matches, Cole has 48 kills against 10 errors in 104 attack attempts for a percentage of .365. That mark ranks first in the GAC by more than 30 points and her total kills ranks among the conference's top 10. Cole also leads SWOSU with 17 blocks (three solo, 14 block), an average of 1.0/set.
 
Consistency Kills
      Perhaps the most consistent offensive threat for SWOSU through the first week has been outside hitter Joey Collins. Collins has recorded 10 or more kills in four of the team's five matches so far, highlighted by a team-high 13 against Midwestern State. In addition, Collins has hit over .100 in each of those matches with double-digit kills.
 
Looking Ahead
            Tournament play gives way to Great American Conference action next week as SWOSU opens GAC play against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday evening. The Lady Bulldogs then travel to Canyon, Texas to face Texas A&M-Kingsville and West Texas A&M in a triangular on Saturday.