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Southern Nazarene (5-7, 1-0 GAC) at SWOSU (4-4, 1-0 GAC) Tuesday, September 22, 7:00 pm Live Stats  |  Listen Live  |  Watch Live Northwestern Oklahoma State (2-8, 0-1 GAC) at SWOSU (4-4, 1-0 GAC) Thursday, September 24, 7:00 pm Live Stats  |  Watch Live SWOSU Weekly Notes (pdf)

Setting the Scene
- The schedule finally permits for SWOSU Volleyball to play a home match as the Bulldogs are at home for three of their next four matches, including two league contests this week
- SWOSU opens the home slate in a big way, facing two of their biggest in-state rivals this week with Southern Nazarene (Tuesday) and Northwestern Oklahoma State (Thursday) visiting the Pioneer Cellular Event Center
- Tuesday's match against Southern Nazarene will be broadcast live by Wright Wradio on 95.5 HD2 'The Score' and 1590 AM in the Weatherford area, becoming the first match in program history to be on the radio
- Fans can tune in for pregame coverage beginning at 6:45 pm as 'Voice of the Bulldogs' John Liddle and Joey McWilliams of OklahomaSports.net will be on the call
 
The Opponents
Southern Nazarene (5-7, 1-0 GAC)
- Enter the week at 5-7 overall after finishing 1-2 at the GAC/MIAA Crossover in Russellville that saw the Storm suffer setbacks against top-ten foes Central Missouri and Washburn
- SNU is 1-0 in league play with a 3-0 win against Southeastern Oklahoma State last week and they finished 2-2 at the St. Edward's Invitational to open the season, the same record as SWOSU at the tournament
- Averaging 11.9 kills per set while hitting .172 as a team behind McKenna Qualls with 134 kills (3.05/set) and Courtney Bowie with 93 (2.11/set)
- Other team leaders include Elyse Berlin with 412 assists, Qualls with 24 service aces, Abbey Bell with 238 digs and McKayla Benner with 28 blocks
 
Northwestern Oklahoma State (2-8, 0-1 GAC)
- The Rangers are riding a six-match losing streak into the week after four losses against a loaded field at the Nebraska-Kearney Classic and a loss to Oklahoma Baptist in their GAC opener
- Earned their two victories against Panhandle State in a season-opening tournament in Goodwell
- Hitting .161 as a team with 396 kills (12.0/set) on the year, led by Nora To'omalatai with 115 (3.97/set) and a .216 percentage
- Kaydee Yukawa leads the team with 179 assists, Asia Pipkin has a team-best 83 digs and Natalie Fahey has 19 blocks to lead NWOSU
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Josh Collins (38-64, 4th season)
- Named second head volleyball coach in SWOSU history on January 1, 2012
- Has coached six All-GAC selections and one GAC Freshman of the Year in three seasons
- His teams have earned two AVCA Team Academic Awards and one GAC Sportsmanship Award
- Added the duties of Director of Gameday Operations at SWOSU in the fall of 2014.
 
Southern Nazarene: Kevin Ingram (314-227, 15th season)
- Has led the Storm to 11 winning seasons, including back-to-back 20-win seasons as members of the Great American Conference
- Took over the SNU volleyball program in 2001 following one season as a graduate assistant
 
NWOSU: Fredrick Wagner (2-8, 1st season)
- First-year head coach of the Rangers who spent 2012-13 at Iowa Central CC
- Has also been the head coach at Kansas City Kansas CC and Avila College
 
Checking the Standings
- SWOSU is one of six teams who opened the league season with a win last week
- Of this week's opponents, SNU has also started the year 1-0 while NWOSU is 0-1 in GAC play
- The Bulldogs overall win percentage of .500 is the fourth-best mark in the league
 
Last Time Out
- SWOSU went 1-1 last week with a 3-0 victory over East Central on Tuesday before a straight-set defeat at #19 Central Oklahoma on Saturday
- Carly Zak led the Dawgs with a double-double of 12 kills-13 digs against at ECU as SWOSU his a season-high .357 for the match
- Zak had 10 kills against UCO while DeLayni Fine had seven and Jill Green added five as both hit above .200 for the match
 
SWOSU Notes
- In Tuesday's league opener, Carly Zak eclipsed the 800-kill mark for her career and she enters this week with 817 career kills, third-most in program history
- Zak, Paige Holt and Kelsi Schmidtberger all had four blocks against East Central while Addie Aman had four against Central Oklahoma, tying the most by a SWOSU player this season
- With Tuesday's victory over East Central, the Bulldogs won their GAC opener for the fifth consecutive season
- SWOSU ranks fifth in the GAC with a .184 hitting percentage heading into the week behind Schmidtberger, who is second in the league with a .350 percentage
- Setter Kayla Hebert, who has already been named GAC Setter of the Week and earned All-Tournament Team honors at the Hilltopper Classic, is third in the GAC in assists (9.71/set) and third on the team with 80 digs
- Kaila Lancaster extender her school-record dig total to over 1,400 last week and she is ranked fourth in the league with 5.07 digs per set
- Blair Dressendorfer tied her career high with 11 kills while hitting .360 against East Central and she is ranked fourth on the team with 49 kills
- Paige Holt leads SWOSU in blocks with 20 (4 solo, 16 assist) while also ranking second in kills (54) and hitting percentage (.252) in her first year as a Dawg
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU plays four matches next week with league contests at Southeastern and against Oklahoma Baptist
- The Bulldogs cap off the week with a tri-match facing Oklahoma City and West Texas A&M