SEARCY, Ark. – SWOSU took the opening set off (RV) Harding and played the Lady Bisons to a tight second set, but the home team survived the threat of going down 2-0 and went on to pull off three straight set victories and down the Bulldogs 3-1 on Friday evening.

The loss snaps SWOSU's five game winning streak and moves them to 6-3 in conference action. Harding, who is receiving votes in the AVCA National Poll, has now won 18 consecutive games and is 9-0 in league play.

The first two sets on Friday ended with the exact score of 25-23, though one went the way of the Bulldogs and one did not.

In set one, SWOSU led from the 4-3 mark and on until Harding tied things back up at 19-19. The Dawgs had as big as a five-point margin through the middle stages before the Lady Bisons clawed their way back. SWOSU didn't flinch though and polished off the first set to grab the early lead.

Set two was the opposite result. Harding cruised through the middle portion of the set with a lead before SWOSU fought back. Trailing 23-19, kills from Taryn Galt and Zoey Sparks paired with a Harding error had the score 23-22. Points got traded from there, but the Dawgs ran out of time and ended up dropping the close set.

Now 1-1, Harding grabbed control of the match. A 9-1 start doomed the Dawgs in the third, followed by another decisive fourth set put together by the home Bisons to close it out.  

Both sides hit under .200 for the match in a defensive matchup. Harding finished at .195 while SWOSU showed .135.

Sparks (12) and Lacy Mott (10) posted double-digit kills for the offense. Sparks also had presence at the net with six block assists and one solo.

Cameron Turner (23) and Terez Chavez (19) combined for 42 assists. Lauren DeSantiago led the way with 19 digs at libero.