WICHITA FALLS, Texas – A difficult opening weekend for the SWOSU Volleyball team concluded with two defeats at the Midwestern State Hampton Inn-vitational on Saturday. The Bulldogs were swept in their opener by host MSU before taking a set off of CSU-Pueblo before falling in four sets.
Midwestern State 3, SWOSU 0Box Score The Bulldogs kept things close with the host Mustangs for much of the afternoon but were unable to claim a set, squandering their best chance with a 20-17 lead late in the second set. MSU closed on an 8-2 run and carried that over with the first five points of the third set as they closed out the match.
Joey Collins led the way for SWOSU with 13 kills and nine digs while
Carly Zak had a strong outing with nine kills against just two hitting errors.
Brandy Mader directed the offense with 27 assists and had a team-best three blocks while
Kenya Williams (12) and
Kaila Lancaster (11) led the way in digs.
CSU-Pueblo 3, SWOSU 1Box Score SWOSU saved their best performance for the final match of the tournament as they finally broke through and won the third set from the Thunderwolves after nearing do the same in the second set. CSU-Pueblo then finished the match off in four to take it by a count of 25-18, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16.
Zak and Collins again led SWOSU with 14 and 10 kills, respectively, while both taking more than 44 attack attempts. For the match, the Bulldogs hit .107 with 48 total kills. Lancaster notched a season-best 26 digs while Mader had 37 assists in the effort.
SWOSU quickly gets a chance to erase the taste of opening weekend as they head to Southeastern Oklahoma State on Tuesday for their Great American Conference opener.
