Box Score (html)
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – For the second straight day, the SWOSU Volleyball team dispatched of an in-state foe, defeating Southern Nazarene 3-0 on Friday afternoon to advance to finals of the Great American Conference Championships – Presented by Subway in Hot Springs.
The Bulldogs got off to a slow start to the match, falling down 4-0 in the first set and eventually 11-5 before Head Coach
Josh Collins took the first timeout of the day. His team responded, weathering the early storm and taking their first lead of the day at 14-13 after a hitting error from SNU finished off a six-point run by the Bulldogs. After the score was tied four times, SWOSU pulled away, breaking a 16-16 tie with four straight points on kills from
DeLayni Fine and
Jill Green and finishing off the set on a kill from
Kayla Hebert at 25-22.
SWOSU's strong finish to the first set gave all the momentum of the match to the Bulldogs, who controlled the final two sets by only trailing at 1-0 to start the second set. Hebert had four kills and hit .667 to lead SWOSU to a 25-19 win in the second set, which saw only three hitting errors by the Bulldogs. SWOSU held the Crimson Storm to a .147 hitting percentage with two blocks and
Kelsi Schmidtberger and
Paige Holt finished things off at 25-19 with consecutive kills.
With just two kills through the first two sets, First Team All-GAC selection
Carly Zak imposed her will on the third set, hitting .625 with five kills and no hitting errors as SWOSU controlled the set and closed out the win. The Bulldogs scored the first six points of the set and never looked back, not letting SNU get any closer than two at 14-12. After a timeout, SWOSU against scored six straight points to go up 20-12 before they finished things off fittingly on Zak's seventh kill of the match at 25-17.
After SWOSU turned to Zak for the majority of their offense on Thursday, several players stepped up for a more balanced attack against the Crimson Storm in the semifinals.
Jill Green led the Bulldogs with 11 kills, hitting .250 for the match, and
DeLayni Fine was also strong with eight kills, five digs and three blocks for the match. As a team, the Bulldogs hit .218 with just 14 hitting errors in the match and they had a 66% sideout rate for the match.
As she has all season long,
Kayla Hebert directed the attack with 31 assists and a team-high 15 digs, while adding seven kills and a .400 hitting percentage.
Kaila Lancaster added 11 digs for the Bulldogs, who lost the overall digs battle 64-to-54 but won the battle at the net with six blocks, led by six solo blocks from
Kelsi Schmidtberger and three apiece from Fine and Zak.
"Our team came out focused and ready to play today and we executed the scouting report exactly how we had talked about it," Coach Collins said following the match. "Southern Nazarene has some great players and it's always a battle when we face them, but we played with poise and confidence today and we played for each other like a family."
The 2015 SWOSU Volleyball team has made history all season and Friday's victory is the latest chapter of the breakthrough season. The Bulldogs earned their 21st victory on the year and their third postseason victory in program history as they've now reached the GAC Tournament Championship game for the first time. The next obstacle for the Bulldogs will be either Arkansas Tech or Southern Arkansas in the Championships game, with the winner earning an automatic berth into the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
First serve in the GAC Championship match will be at 2:00 pm on Saturday afternoon at the Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
