WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The growth and maturation of the 2014 SWOSU Volleyball team was on display Saturday as they played a pair of matches against ranked foes. In the opener, the Bulldogs gritted out a five-set victory over ranked NAIA foe Oklahoma Baptist before battling with #25 West Texas A&M in a three-set defeat to close the night.
SWOSU 3, Oklahoma Baptist 2 (25-17, 25-20, 22-25, 23-25, 15-13)Box Score A near record-setting defense effort and one of the best offensive performances of the season led the Bulldogs to an exciting victory in the opener over Oklahoma Baptist, a team ranked No. 20 in the latest NAIA poll. SWOSU won the first two sets and nearly put the match away in the third before OBU rallied to force it into the deciding set.
The Bulldogs pushed out to a 4-1 in the deciding set before allowing four straight points to OBU and relinquishing the lead. The teams traded points up to seven before the Bison scored three straight to take a 10-7 lead shortly after the turn.
Carly Zak put down a kill to end the run and start the final push by the Bulldogs, which included five consecutive points with
Brandy Mader on the serve.
Another Zak timeout made it 13-10 and forced Oklahoma Baptist to call their final timeout, which was followed by consecutive point by the Bison and a SWOSU timeout leading 13-12.
Shayne Haley put down her eighth kill of the night to get the Bulldogs up 14-12, but SWOSU couldn't shut the door with
Kenya Williams on the serve. On the ensuing play, an OBU attack attempts went long and finished the set at 15-13 and the match at 3-2.
Carly Zak finished with 21 kills and
Joey Collins added 18 while hitting .326 with just three attack errors in the match. OBU had one more kill than the Dawgs but committed 37 hitting errors while SWOSU had 24.
Brandy Mader finished one kill shy of a triple double with nine kills, 27 assists and 11 digs while
Shayne Haley had eight kills and six assist blocks in the effort.
The defense was strong at the net and behind with 15 blocks – the second-most in a match in school history – and 107 digs – the third-most single-game total – which outdueled the Bison in each category.
Taylor VanderWerff led the way with nine block assists, while
Kiley Brennfoerder and Haley each added six blocks.
Kaila Lancaster was one of six players to reach double figures in digs with a match-high 25 and
Kenya Williams also reached the 20-dig mark.
#25 West Texas A&M 3, SWOSU 0 (21-25, 16-25, 21-25)Box Score It was again Collins and Zak doing most of the offensive damage for the Dawgs, finishing with 14 and 13 kills, respectively while both hit above .230. SWOSU had just nine fewer kills than WT, but they committed four more hitting errors. The glaring difference was in digs, where WT had 59 compared to 45 for the Bulldogs. SWOSU did out-block the Lady Buffs, however, by a count of 4-to-3.
Mader finished with 21 assists while
Alyssa Olson had 10 and Lancaster and Williams led the way in the back with 15 and 13 digs, respectively. Brennfoerder continued her strong play at the net, finishing with a team-best three assist blocks.
SWOSU is now 8-13 on the year with five matches remaining in the regular season. The Bulldogs close out the month of October on Tuesday night with a 7:00 pm non-conference match against Cameron.
