WEATHERFORD – SWOSU Volleyball gave the defending national champions all they wanted in the final non-conference match of the season after rallying down 2-0 to force a thrilling fifth set, but No. 5 West Texas A&M finally closed out the Bulldogs 15-12 in the final frame to avoid the upset.
The loss snaps SWOSU's five-game win streak and pushes the Bulldogs to 13-6 overall on the season. West Texas A&M moves to 17-2. In a season filled with five-setters, the Bulldogs are now 6-3 when the match goes the distance following Tuesday's result.
Set one featured two giant momentum swings. The Bulldogs came out swinging and jumped out to a 14-7 lead before WT found rhythm and scored nine-straight points to flip the set. SWOSU briefly got the lead back, but two more four-point runs spread out from there from the visitors allowed them to gain early control of the match.
Set two saw the Lady Buffs continue with momentum until things got late. WT led 23-17 before SWOSU stormed back to tie things at 24-24. The Buffs closed out the set with two points from there, but the Dawgs got something that carried into the later sets – momentum.
After two sets where the Buffs offense saw easy, open lanes, SWOSU began to lock things down when their backs got against the wall. WT posted hitting percentages of .312 and .286 in the first two sets, and SWOSU responded by holding them to .175 and .024 in the third and fourth.
SWOSU controlled the third set from start to finish, hitting a game high .282 to win 25-18 and avoid the sweep. They matched their highest kill mark from the second set with 16 on six less attacks. Lacy Mott came alive to lead the way with four of those.
Despite hitting just .111 in the fourth set, the Bulldogs cruised to another win to force the deciding fifth thanks in large part to a match-high 11 errors by the Buffs and that .024 aforementioned hitting mark.
In the fifth, and final frame, SWOSU scored the first two points before a 7-0 spurt by the visitors had them leading 7-2. SWOSU rallied to get things back knotted at 8-8 but it was WT who inched to the finish line from there as the aggressor, with two separate two-point runs without a Bulldog answer. They hit .360 when they needed it most.
Final numbers had SWOSU finish with a .193 mark, compared to .224 from WT. Both sides finished with nine blocks and the Dawgs edged the service line battle out 7-4 in aces and with three less errors.
Hailey Smith (.385) led all Bulldogs with 14 kills – a career high. Lacy Mott (.106) added 12 kills. The Buffs also got a career performance from Emma Becker (.380) who led all players with 23 kills.
Cameron Turner's 28 assists fell two shy of her career high. The duo of Terez Chavez added 19 additional.
Attention shifts back to conference play with an upcoming Arkansas road trip looming. The Bulldogs will face Arkansas-Monticello and Southern Arkansas to close out the week this Thursday/Friday. Seven GAC matches remain in the regular season, which will wrap up Nov. 9.
