2016 GAC Volleyball Semifinals
(8) Southeastern Oklahoma State (14-16)
vs. (5) SWOSU (14-16)
Friday, Nov. 18, 6:00 pm
Hot Springs, Ark. (Bank of the Ozarks Arena)
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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – SWOSU Volleyball will make their second consecutive appearance in the Great American Conference Tournament semifinals on Friday evening when they face Southeastern Oklahoma State at 6:00 pm from Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
The No. 5-seed Bulldogs advanced to the semifinals with a four-set victory over Arkansas Tech on Thursday evening. SWOSU lost the first set 25-21 but bounced back and took the next three sets to win the match and hand Arkansas Tech their first-ever quarterfinal defeat at the GAC Tournament. Leading the way for the Dawgs was First Team All-GAC outside hitter
Carly Zak with a double-double of 18 kills and 13 digs, while Honorable Mention All-GAC setter
Kayla Hebert also doubled up with 51 assists and 18 digs.
Kelsi Schmidtberger, also an honorable mention all-conference selection, and
Jill Green each added 13 kills apiece.
Southeastern Oklahoma State advanced to the semifinals as the No. 8-seed after upsetting No. 1-seed Harding in a five-set thriller on Thursday evening. The Savage Storm won the first set 25-18, but lost the next two sets before winning the fourth set 25-20 to force a deciding fifth set, which they won 15-9. Karine Cavalcante led Southeastern with 19 kills while hitting .300 for the match and Arianna Baker had an efficient 12 kills with a .435 attack percentage.
SWOSU swept the season series against Southeastern in 2016, earning a five-set victory in Durant on September 30th before claiming a three-set victory against the Savage Storm on November 5th in Weatherford.
Carly Zak had 32 kills (4.00 per set) against Southeastern and SWOSU's top six hitters all had a hitting percentage above .200 against the Storm.
Paige Holt hit .364 with 14 kills while
DeLayni Fine and
Kelsi Schmidtberger each had 19 kills in eight sets of action against Southeastern.
Friday's GAC Semifinal will be the first-ever postseason meeting between SWOSU and Southeastern in volleyball and the 21st meeting in the all-time series, which is tied at 10-10. SWOSU has won the last two games in the series and the Bulldogs are 8-2 against the Savage Storm under the direction of head coach
Josh Collins.
