Setting the Scene
- With five matches remaining in the 2018 regular season, the SWOSU Volleyball team is one game out of first place in the Great American Conference standings and the Bulldogs will be in action twice this weekend
- SWOSU heads to Durant on Thursday night for a showdown with Southeastern Oklahoma State before returning to the Pioneer Cellular Event Center to host Oklahoma Baptist at 1:00 pm on Saturday afternoon
- The Bulldogs are seeking a season-sweep of Southeastern, having defeated the Savage Storm in three sets back on September 18th in Weatherford
- SWOSU will be looking to avenge their first conference loss of the season on Saturday when they host OBU, who defeated the Dawgs 3-1 on September 20th in Shawnee
- SWOSU is one of three teams (Harding, Henderson State) that have clinched their spot in the 2018 GAC Tournament, which takes place on November 8-10 in Hot Springs, Ark.
 
The Opponents
Southeastern Oklahoma State (7-16, 3-8 GAC)
- The Savage Storm enter the week with momentum after defeating Southern Arkansas on Saturday to snap a five-match slide in conference matches
- Southeastern ranks 11th in the GAC in hitting percentage (.129) and 10th in opponent hitting percentage (.212) but they are sixth in the league with 123 service aces (.1.40 per set)
 
Oklahoma Baptist (13-14, 6-5 GAC)
- The Bison dropped a pair of conference matches at Arkansas Tech and Harding last weekend, which dropped them to sixth place in the league standings at 6-5
- OBU ranks second in the GAC in digs (18.74 per set), trailing only SWOSU and they are seventh in the rankings for both hitting percentage (.190) and opponent hitting percentage (.181)
 
Checking the Standings
- Harding has a one-game lead on the field at 10-1 in GAC play, with SWOSU and Henderson State tied for second at 9-2
- Ouachita and Arkansas Tech are tied for fourth at 8-3 with Oklahoma Baptist two games back and alone in sixth place
- Southern Nazarene (5-6) and Northwestern Oklahoma State (4-7) currently have the inside track on the final spots in the GAC Tournament, with Southeastern just one game back of the Rangers in eighth
 
SWOSU Notes
- Emily Holm more than doubled her previous career high of 11 kills when she put down 24 kills on Saturday at Ouachita, which is the most by a Bulldog this season and tied for the sixth-highest single-match total in SWOSU Volleyball history
- Allie Hoang was one assist off the single-game school record with 66 at Ouachita and she became the ninth player in program history to reach the 1,000-career assist plateau during the match
- Kaitlyn Dillon set a new season-high with 37 digs at Ouachita – her fifth 30-dig match of the season – and she remains the GAC leader with an average of 5.61 digs per set while also ranking third with 34 service aces
- SWOSU's pair of starting middle hitters – Sofia Gruden and Elizabeth McVicker – both rank among the top five players in the GAC for hitting percentage, with Gruden in third (.346) with McVicker close behind in fifth (.318)
- Danusia Sipa Borgeaud leads the Bulldogs with 250 kills (3.12 per set) and she's moved up to seventh on SWOSU's career kills list with 617
- Jenny Tackett reached double figures in kills for the fourth time this season with 10 at Henderson State, giving her 124 (1.82 per set) for the season
- SWOSU leads the GAC in service aces with 136 (1.70 per set), with Dillon (34) leading the way while Klemson Lancaster (27) and Borgeaud (23) also have more than 20
 
Looking Ahead
- Next week has the Bulldogs in action once, heading to East Central on Thursday (Oct. 25) before closing out the regular season the following week against Southern Nazarene (Oct. 30) and Northwestern Oklahoma State (Nov. 1)