Box Score (html)
WEATHERFORD, Okla. – The SWOSU Volleyball team hosted No. 10-ranked Central Oklahoma – the highest-ranked team to visit the Pioneer Cellular Event Center – on Monday night, with the potent Bronchos offensive attack proving to be superior in a straight-set victory (25-13, 25-17, 25-19) against the Dawgs.
SWOSU fell behind 8-1 in the first set and never could recover as they were held to a .032 hitting percentage and UCO rolled to the 25-13 set win. The narrative was different in the final two sets, with the Bulldogs holding their own as the rest of the match saw a combined 14 ties and seven lead changes. UCO scored four consecutive points in the second set to take a 13-8 lead and they held the Dawgs at bay for the remainder of the set and took the 2-0 lead.
In the third set, SWOSU fell behind 5-1 but showed plenty of resolve as they came back to tie the set at 8-8 on a block from
Kelsi Schmidtberger and
DeLayni Fine. Aided by kills from
Kayla Hebert and
Carly Zak along with a hitting error from UCO, the Bulldogs built a lead of 18-16 near the midpoint of the set before UCO went on a run with five straight points and regained the lead. With their new momentum, the Bronchos closed the set out at 25-19 and swept the match.
Carly Zak led the Dawgs offense with 11 kills on 43 swings with six hitting errors, hitting .116 for the match while also totaling eight digs and two block assists.
Jill Green chipped in with eight kills while
Kayla Hebert and
DeLayni Fine had five apiece. Hebert led her team with 25 assists,
Kaitlyn Dillon led the match with 17 digs and
Kelsi Schmidtberger was a part of a team-leading three block assists for SWOSU.
"We got off to a slow start tonight and that's something you can't do against a great team like UCO," SWOSU Head Coach
Josh Collins said. "I thought our team competed hard and I liked the fight we showed in the second and third sets to never give up. It's good to play tough non-conference matches like this, but we have to turn our focus back to the conference season because we have two big games coming up this weekend"
SWOSU (5-13) will play at home three times this weekend, beginning with a GAC match against Harding on Friday night at 6:00 pm.
