CANYON, Texas – After suffering a setback in their season opener, the
SWOSU Volleyball team was on the verge of their first victory until a late comeback from UT-Permian Basin dropped the Bulldogs to 0-2 on the opening day of the West Texas A&M Buff Classic at 'The Box' in Canyon.
The Bulldogs will be back in action Saturday morning against Colorado-State Pueblo at 11 am before wrapping up the round robin against Adams State at 5:30 pm.
West Texas A&M 3, SWOSU 0
25-19, 25-13, 25-20
Box Score
SWOSU committed 21 hitting errors and five service errors in a match where they hit just .087 against the tournament hosts. West Texas A&M was very efficient in their offense, putting down 38 kills with just 10 hitting errors.
After falling down 2-0,
SWOSU stormed out of the huddle in the third set and built an early lead of 6-2. Momentum would be maintained momentarily until the Buffs rallied back and took their first lead of the set at 8-7. WT tried to pull away, but the Bulldogs remained within two points at 17-15 before a four-point burst from the Buffs gave them a 21-15 advantage.
SWOSU had one last rally in them, getting four straight points on a pair of kills from
Danusia Sipa Borgeaud along with one from
Kodee Avery to close within two at 22-20. West Texas A&M then went one to claim the final three points of the match, the final on a service ace that wrapped up the three-set contest.
Borgeaud led the way for
SWOSU with nine kills on 19 attack attempts while
DeLayni Fine added seven kills on 16 swings. Avery directed the offense with 17 assists while
Kaitlyn Dillon led the match with 19 digs and
Addie Aman sent back a team-best attempts via the block.
UT-Permian Basin 3, SWOSU 2
25-13, 18-25, 25-13, 25-27, 5-15
Box Score
The Bulldogs finally won their first set of 2017 in the nightcap's opening frame courtesy of eight unanswered
SWOSU points during the middle portion of the set. Winning 10-8, the Dawgs rattled off four-consecutive kills followed by a service ace and three errors by UTPB to go up 18-8 and give them more than enough breathing room to close out set number one.
It was the middle of the second set that gave
SWOSU problems, falling behind by as many as 10 points to the Falcons after posting a hitting percentage of exactly .000 while collecting a match-low five kills. UTPB would go on to claim the frame 25-18 and tie the set count up at one.
In set three,
SWOSU bounced back to hit a match-best .310 to take a 2-1 advantage headed to the fourth.
The fourth set was the closest one all night, despite the Dawgs jumping out to a 10-1 early lead. UTPB immediately answered with a run of their own and cut the deficit to 11-9 in a matter of serves.
SWOSU eventually had match point at 24-22, but failed to close the game out and allowed the Falcons to rally and take the set 27-25 to force a decisive fifth set.
Offensive foes plagued
SWOSU in the final frame, hitting -.250 while earning only five points, falling 15-5 in the set and moving to 0-2 on the opening day of the season.
Danusia Sipa Borgeau led the attack in the nightcap with 14 kills while
Addie Aman and
JaLisa Hollingshed held firm at the net with nine total blocks between the two.
Kodee Avery assisted on 23 points and
Kaitlyn Dillon led the squad with 21 digs on defense.
