Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The SWOSU Volleyball team proved once again what the home crowd knew heading into their showdown with Ouachita Baptist: the Bulldogs will not quit.
After winning the first set, SWOSU dropped the second and third sets, leaving them in a must-win situation heading into the fourth. The response: SWOSU hit a match-high .333 to win the fourth set 25-14 and tie the match at 2-2.
In the fifth set, SWOSU's 8-5 lead at the turn quickly turned into a 12-8 deficit, leaving the Bulldogs on the brink of defeat. No need for panic, SWOSU scored six straight points and seven of the final eight to earn the victory 15-13 in the fifth set and 3-2 for the match.
Ouachita's Stephanie Pollnow, who had scored six straight points on her service, served an error coming out of a SWOSU timeout at 12-9.
Lindsey McCauley then stepped to serve for the Bulldogs and her side led to five straight points and pushed the Bulldogs to their first match point. Zak had two kills in the rally while
Kayla Hebert had two kills in the final five points, including the winner on SWOSU's second match point.
Four of the previous six meetings between SWOSU and Ouachita had to be settled in five sets, but this time it was the Bulldogs coming out on top in a defensive battle. The two teams combined for 184 digs and 24 blocks and neither hit over .200 for the match with OBU hitting .111 while the Bulldogs swung it at a .192 clip. SWOSU's defense really stepped it up with the match on the line, holding Ouachita to a combined .000 hitting percentage in both the fourth and fifth sets.
Carly Zak,
Kelsi Schmidtberger and
Paige Holt all had double figures in kills, with Zak leading the team with 20 and a .302 hitting percentage. The junior also reached a career milestone during the fifth set when she put down the 1,000th kill of her career, becoming just the second player in program history to reach that plateau. Zak is now within striking distance for the career record, which is held by Kasandra Gurtner (2005-07) and stands at 1,036. Zak's all-around game continues to take shape as she also tallied 14 digs and seven blocks.
Schmidtberger had another strong all-around game, putting down 15 kills with just one hitting error for a .389 percentage for the match. On the flip side, she matched her season-high with eight blocks (three solo, five assist) as the Bulldogs set a new season-high as a team with 13 blocks. Holt was also effective in the middle, putting down 11 kills to go along with four blocks.
Kayla Hebert was steady as always, finishing with 46 assists and 13 digs to go along with three kills and no hitting errors. Five different players reached double figures in digs, but it was
Ariana Olson who stood out on this night, tracking several hard attempts from OBU's league-leading offense to finishing with a career-high 24 digs.
Kaila Lancaster and Zak had 14 digs apiece while Hebert had 13 and
Lindsey McCauley recorded 12.
"We came out hot in the first set, but let the next two slip away," SWOSU Head Coach
Josh Collins said following the win. "I told our girls to believe in themselves coming into the fourth set and the way they rallied to close out the match shows just how hard these girls have worked this year."
With the victory, the Bulldogs improve to 14-8 overall – tying the school record for single-season wins – and 7-3 in Great American Conference play, breaking a tie with the Tigers for third place in the standings. SWOSU is now tied with Southern Nazarene for third in the standings, one game up on Ouachita and Harding with six league games remaining.
Celebration for Friday's victory will be limited to one night as the Bulldogs are back in action on Saturday at 2:00 pm, facing Henderson State at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center. SWOSU then caps off Alumni Appreciation Day at 7:00 pm when they host Panhandle State in the final match of a triangular.
