Setting the Scene
- The SWOSU Volleyball team is one game out of first place in the Great American Conference standings as they head to Ada on Thursday night for a matchup with East Central
- SWOSU defeated ECU in straight sets back on September 4th and they are now going for a season-sweep of the Tigers for the fifth straight year
- With three matches to play in the regular season, the Bulldogs have already clinched their spot in the 2018 GAC Tournament, which will be held on November 8-10 in Hot Springs, Ark.
 
The Opponents
East Central (0-25, 0-13 GAC)
- ECU is the lone winless team remaining in the Great American Conference, but they've taken two conference matches to the fifth set before falling
- The Tigers are at or near the bottom of the conference rankings in most statistical categories, with Abbey Wehrman ranking fifth in the GAC with 4.58 digs per set
 
The Coaches
SWOSU: Josh Collins (101-114, 7th season)
- Recorded his 100th win at SWOSU with a 3-0 victory at Southeastern Oklahoma State on October 18, 2018
- Has led the Bulldogs to a top-four finish in the Great American Conference standings three times and guided SWOSU to the 2015 GAC Tournament Championship and a berth in the NCAA Division II National Tournament
- Active member of NCAA committees, serving on the Regional Advisory Committee since 2014 and the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball National Committee since 2016
 
East Central: Melissa Anderson (14-72, 3rd season)
- Third-year head coach of the Tigers after spending the previous seven seasons as the head coach at Otero Junior College
 
Checking the Standings
- Harding maintains a one-game lead on SWOSU and Henderson State with three matches remaining in the regular season
- Five teams have clinched their spot in the GAC Tournament, with Arkansas Tech and Ouachita joining the top three
- Southern Nazarene and Oklahoma Baptist are tied for sixth place in the standings at 7-6, three games clear of Northwestern Oklahoma State in eighth
 
SWOSU Notes
- Kaitlyn Dillon recorded her fourth GAC Defensive Player of the Week award this season after averaging 6.00 digs per set with six service aces in wins over Southeastern and Oklahoma Baptist
- Dillon has a career total of 1,659 digs, which is now less than 130 digs away from SWOSU's all-time record of 1,785, held by Kaila Lancaster (2012-15), and she's moved into a share of fourth place in career service aces with 80
- Elizabeth McVicker led the Bulldogs with 17 kills while hitting .417 in the win over Oklahoma Baptist, giving her a hitting percentage above .300 in five straight matches and nine of the last ten overall
- SWOSU leads the GAC with 144 service aces (1.73 per set) with Dillon (40) and Klemson Lancaster (30) both ranked among the top ten in the conference
- Danusia Sipa Borgeaud leads the Dawgs and ranks eighth in the GAC with 263 kills (3.02 per set), which has moved her up to 7th on SWOSU's all-time kills list with 630 over the past two seasons
- The Bulldogs are averaging 12.99 kills per set for the year, with five different players who have put away more than 125 kills this season
- Allie Hoang has recorded a double-double with assists and digs 13 times this season, including each of the last three matches, and she has season averages of 8.99 assists and 3.20 digs per set for the year
- Sofia Gruden has put away 10 or more kills six times this season, including four times in the past five matches, to put her at 2.01 kills per set with the GAC's third-best hitting percentage of .350
 
Looking Ahead
- SWOSU will play their final match of the season inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center next Tuesday (Oct. 30) with first serve on Senior Night set for 7:00 pm against Southern Nazarene
- The Bulldogs then conclude the regular season on Thursday (Nov. 1) in Alva with a rivalry match against Northwestern Oklahoma State