---

2016 GAC / MIAA Crossover Friday, Sept. 16 SWOSU vs. Southwest Baptist, 10 am  |  Live Stats SWOSU at #7 Central Oklahoma, 6 pm  |  Live Stats Edmond, Okla. (Hamilton Field House) Saturday, Sept. 17 SWOSU vs. Emporia State, 11 am  |  Live Stats SWOSU vs. Missouri Western, 5 pm  |  Live Stats

Setting the Scene
- With 10 days of rest behind them, the SWOSU Volleyball team returns to action at the GAC / MIAA Crossover, hosted in Edmond and Shawnee
- On Friday, the Bulldogs will face Southwest Baptist and Central Oklahoma from the No. 7-ranked Bronchos home arena, Hamilton Field House
- The action for SWOSU then shifts to Shawnee on Saturday for contests against Emporia State and Missouri Western
- SWOSU is a combined 0-19 all-time against their four opponents for this weekend, having last faced UCO last year and the other three opponents in 2013
 
The Opponents
Southwest Baptist (2-6)
- SBU has gone 1-3 at both of their first two tournaments, with their victories coming against Barton College and Panhandle State
- The Bearcats are 0-1 against teams from the GAC, having dropped a 3-0 match against Harding at their home tournament last weekend
- Led by Dana Neal, who has 69 kills (2.30/set) and Katie Robinson with 28 blocks (five solo, 23 assist) while the Bearcats are hitting .103 as a team through eight matches
 
#7 Central Oklahoma (9-0)
- Unblemished and ranked No. 7 in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll, the highest ranking for the Bronchos in school history
- In their nine matches, UCO has only lost one set, that coming against Texas A&M-International during the Southeastern Oklahoma Invitational in Durant
- The Bronchos are 3-0 against GAC teams with straight-set victories over East Central, Southeastern Oklahoma State and Oklahoma Baptist to their credit
- Five players average better than two kills per set for UCO, led by Taylor Bevis with 96 (3.43 per set) while their top six offensive threats are all hitting .225 or better
 
Emporia State (5-3)
- The Hornets enter the weekend on a four-game winning streak after sweeping through the Midwestern State Invitational last weekend in Wichita Falls
- Emporia State went 1-3 at their opening weekend tournament, defeating Midwestern State, and they will be facing their first GAC foes of the season this weekend in Shawnee
- Huge advantage for ESU is at the net, where the Hornets are out-blocking their opponents 69-to-39 for the year with both Danika Burton (1.53) and Shayla Cotman (1.03) averaging better than one block per set
 
Missouri Western (4-4)
- The Griffons enter the weekend with a 4-4 record after splitting and going 2-2 in each of their first two tournaments
- MWSU has wins over Drury, Midwestern State, Oklahoma Baptist and East Central to their credit while they've suffered setbacks against Mary, Quincy, Missouri S&T and Minnesota State
 
The Coach
SWOSU: Josh Collins (57-77, 5th season)
- Led the Bulldogs to the best season in program history in 2015, winning 22 games and the GAC Tournament Championship
- Has coached nine All-GAC selections, one GAC Freshman of the Year and one AVCA All-Central Region selection in four 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.
 
Checking the Standings
- SWOSU was one of four teams that had a bye on Tuesday night while the rest of the Great American Conference opened up league play
- Harding, Ouachita, Arkansas Tech and Oklahoma Baptist all opened up with wins and are tied atop the league standings at 1-0
- Harding and Ouachita are tied for the best overall record in the league at 7-2, with Arkansas Tech one game behind that with a 6-3 mark
 
Last Time Out
- Lubbock Christian defeated SWOSU 3-0 in the Bulldogs last outing, on September 6th in Lubbock
- The Lady Chaps dominated the first two sets, keeping SWOSU to a negative hitting percentage, but the Dawgs battled and led for most of the third set before LCU scored seven of the final nine points to end it at 25-23
- Carly Zak led SWOSU with a double-double 10 kills and 11 digs, Kodee Avery had a team-best 14 assists and Paige Holt sent back a team-leading five blocks
 
SWOSU Notes
- SWOSU sports a hitting percentage of .149 for the year with 221 kills and 118 hitting errors, ranking the Bulldogs 10th in the GAC in the category
- The Bulldogs are the second-best blocking team in the GAC for the early going, averaging 1.95 blocks per in 20 sets of action
- Carly Zak sits atop the GAC rankings in kills with 84, an average of 4.20 per set, and she has put down at least 10 kills in all six matches this season
- Kelsi Schmidtberger (third) and Paige Holt (fifth) both rank in the top five of the GAC rankings for blocks with 21 and 18, respectively
- Kodee Avery set a new season-high of 14 assists against Lubbock Christian, with all of them coming in the third and final set
- Kaitlyn Dillon leads the Bulldogs with 60 digs (3.0 per set) for the year, while three other players are also averaging better than 2.0 digs per set
 
Looking Ahead
- Great American Conference play is just around the corner for the Bulldogs, with seven consecutive GAC matches to follow after this weekend
- SWOSU heads to Bethany to face Southern Nazarene next Tuesday (Sept. 20) before returning home on Thursday (Sept. 22) for their GAC home opener against Northwestern Oklahoma State