Box Score (html)
ADA, Okla. – Although both programs are fairly new in their existence, one place the SWOSU Volleyball team had not yet earned a victory was the Kerr Activities Center, home of in-state rival East Central. It took five sets, but the Bulldogs changed that on Tuesday night, defeating ECU 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 25-17, 15-25, 15-6) to earn a season sweep of the Tigers and the program's first win in Ada.
SWOSU took the opening set by hitting .257 with 13 kills and four errors and scoring six consecutive points late in the set to put the Tigers away. The Bulldogs were on the verge of running away with the second set, leading 17-13 before being outscored 12-3 the rest of the way as ECU evened the match.
The teams went back and forth early in the third set before a mid-set run pushed the Bulldogs out to an 18-10 lead. An assist block from
Taylor VanderWerff and
Brandy Mader ended the set at 25-17, giving SWOSU a chance to close it out in the fourth. East Central would not go away that easy, however, scoring the first four points of the fourth set and controlling throughout to push the match to the deciding fifth set.
East Central took a 2-1 lead after three points in the fifth before a kill form
Joey Collins evened it up and the SWOSU block helped them push ahead.
Kiley Brennfoerder teamed with Mader and Collins for two different blocks, getting the Bulldogs up 6-2 before back-to-back kills by Collins and Zak made the score 8-3 at the turn. Zak would polish off her night with two more kills, making it 10-3 before
Taylor VanderWerff had a pair of kills to push the lead to 13-5.
Kenya Williams finished the Tigers off with a service ace at match point, sending the Bulldogs home with a victory.
Collins led the Bulldogs with 20 kills and hit .340 after committing just two hitting errors. She also finished with a double-double, adding 11 digs. Zak had 16 kills and jumped from ninth all the way up to sixth in all-time kills at SWOSU with 616 as her current career total. Zak hit .308 for the match and was joined by Brennfoerder, who hit .385 with seven kills and against just two attack errors.
SWOSU held a 96-88 advantage in digs, being led by 27 from
Kaila Lancaster, who surpassed the 1,100-dig plateau for her career during the match. Mader had another double-double with 23 assists and a career-best 22 digs while
Kenya Williams (16) and
Alyssa Olson (10) also reached double figures in digs. Olson added her third double-double of the season with 14 assists.
The victory improves SWOSU to 7-11 (5-6 GAC) on the year heading into a matchup with Southern Nazarene on Thursday night at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center. The Bulldogs also assured themselves a spot in the Great American Conference Tournament on Tuesday night, clinching their spot in the event which will be held November 13-15 in Hot Springs, Ark.
