WEATHERFORD, Okla. – SWOSU Volleyball and Ouachita entered Thursday next to each other in the standings, but the Bulldogs made clear the ranking order with a 3-0 sweep of the Tigers inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
The Bulldog offense was clicking Thursday. They hit a season high .361 as a unit led by Lacy Mott and Samantha Kuzma who combined for 28 kills. This came two days after hitting a season low against No. 12 West Texas A&M. A great response from the resilient Bulldogs.
SWOSU moves to 7-3 in GAC play and a perfect 6-0 at home this season and sits in third place in the Great American Conference.
Despite the 3-0 final, all sets were close including the first and third being decided by just two points.
Set one featured 17 ties and 11 lead changes and it came down to the very end. SWOSU fought off set point trailing 24-23 and scored the next three points on three-straight kills to claim the win.
Set two was the most decisive win of the night for the Dawgs and even it saw an 18-18 score heading into the late part of the frame. Seven of the final eight points went to the home side though – started by a Terez Chavez ace and ended with a Maicee Morgan ace – and SWOSU sat in a good position heading to the third.
Not quite as close as the opening set, but in set three both sides were tied on nine separate occasions including at the 21-21 mark. Mott posted back-to-back kills to eliminate any chance of the Tigers grabbing sneaky control and from there, the two traded points until the Dawgs got to 25.
The SWOSU attack hit at least .325 in every set which included a .385 mark in the opening frame. Seven of Mott's team-leading 16 kills came in the third set. Taryn Galt also had a strong third set where she collected five of her eight kills. Kuzma hit a blistering .550 and posted four kills in each set.
There'll be no time to rest with SWOSU's next match set for tomorrow (10/14) at 4pm against Henderson State. The Reddies just defeated Northwestern in five sets and will be looking to complete a successful road trip to Oklahoma against the Bulldogs.
