Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
WICHITA FALLS, Texas – After earning a four-set victory over Eastern New Mexico in Friday's first match at the Midwestern State / Hampton Inn-vitational, the SWOSU volleyball team used a late rally to put away New Mexico Highlands and improve to 2-0 for the first time in program history.
SWOSU 3, Eastern New Mexico 1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-16, 25-19)
Box Score
After splitting the first two sets, SWOSU dominated the third and fourth sets to finish off Eastern New Mexico for the season-opening win.
Carly Zak burst onto the scene in her first collegiate match, putting down a game-high 14 kills against three hitting errors. Zak hit .500 with six kills in the deciding fourth set and finished hitting .379 for the match.
Joey Collins also reached double figures with 10 kills on 39 attempts and she added one block and five digs.
Alison Cole and
Christina Darras combined for an additional 17 kills for the Lady Bulldogs, who hit .229 for the match and were above .250 in the final two sets.
Breann Whitaker tallied 41 assists and four assist blocks in the match while
Kenya Williams (16),
Saasha Jacobson (15) and
Kaila Lancaster (11) all reached double digits in digs.
Leading the way for Eastern New Mexico was Lauren Frye with 10 kills. The SWOSU defense held the Zias to a hitting percentage of .073 and never allowed them to hit above .130 in a set. Additionally, SWOSU finished with 10 total blocks to three for ENMU.
SWOSU 3, New Mexico Highlands 1 (25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 30-28)
Box Score
The Bulldogs claimed the first two sets decisively, but had to make a late comeback in the fourth set to keep the match from going the distance.
SWOSU made it through the first set without committing a hitting error and hit a .455 percentage and took the set 25-18. They would follow that up with a 25-19 win of set two before New Mexico Highlands won the third set 25-22.
It appeared the Cowgirls were going to force a fifth set as they led throughout the fourth and even had a chance to finish the set with a 24-22 lead. That was when Cole took control in the middle, earning the Bulldogs three consecutive points with two kills and one block. The teams then traded points until reaching the 28-28 mark. It was then that Zak put down back-to-back kills – her 12th and 13th of the match – and propelled SWOSU to victory.
Cole led the Bulldogs with 14 kills and hit .440 for the match with just three errors on 25 attempts. She also added three blocks (two solo, one assist). Zak (13) and Collins (11) both recorded double digit kills for the second time on Friday and helped SWOSU out-hit the Cowgirls .161 to .123.
Whitaker finished with 44 assists and 13 digs while Jacobson had a team-high 20 digs for SWOSU.
Kiley Brennfoerder had seven block assists in the match, which was balanced at the net with each team finishing with 10 total blocks.
SWOSU will wrap up the tournament on Saturday, facing Midwestern State at 11 am and Emporia State at 3 pm.
