Box Score (html)
Ada, Okla. – After winning a five-set thriller Friday night in Durant, SWOSU Volleyball traveled to Ada on Saturday to face East Central in another Great American Conference match. The Bulldogs swept the Tigers 3-0, improving to 4-10 on the season and 2-2 in the GAC.
The first set was even in the early going, with both teams collecting points going back and forth.
Carly Zak slammed one home to put SWOSU up 11-7, and from that point the Bulldogs took control. SWOSU went on a 4-0 run to extend their lead, and from there ran away with the set, topping ECU 25-17.
The second set was almost a mirror replica of the first. Both teams traded points in the early part of the set, and at the 9-8 mark Zak collected back-to-back kills with a Tiger hitting error to go up 12-9. It was at that point the Bulldog attack took control of the set. After an East Central kill, SWOSU earned five-straight points courtesy of kills from
Blair Dressendorfer and
Kelsi Schmidtberger, and a trio of hitting errors by ECU.
Paige Holt finished the set off with a kill, and the Bulldogs took set two 25-17.
SWOSU jumped out to a fast start in set number three, getting ahead of the Tigers 9-3 after three
DeLayni Fine kills. East Central, with their backs against the wall, battled back to tie the score at 10-10 forcing a Bulldog timeout. Out of the timeout, ECU scored two-straight service aces to take their first lead of the set since the opening point. Dressendorfer stopped the Tiger run with a kill, and then served the next six points for the Bulldogs, including collecting two aces in the process. After the run, SWOSU never looked back. At the 21-17 mark, Zak was responsible for the team's final four points, slamming three kills and adding a service ace on match point to give the Bulldogs the 25-19 set and match win.
The Bulldog offense was led by Zak with 15 kills and aided by Fine's 9 and Dressendorfer's 6.
Kaitlyn Dillon collected 17 digs in the match followed by Kayla Herbert with 13.
Addie Aman and Holt each added two blocks to the mix for the front line. The 3-0 victory over ECU this afternoon was SWOSU's first sweep of the season. The Bulldogs have also now won consecutive games for the first time in the 2016 campaign.
"Our team has been tested a lot early this season and our response this weekend speaks to the character of the players on this team," SWOSU Head Coach
Josh Collins said. "Now, for the first time this season we have some momentum that we will need to continue to build on with three more road games ahead next week."
SWOSU Volleyball (4-10, 2-2 GAC) will travel to Shawnee to face Oklahoma Baptist next Tuesday, October 4 at 7 pm in their next conference match. The Bulldogs will play two more road conference matches before returning home to face #7 Central Oklahoma in a non-conference affair on October 10.
