DURANGO, Colo. – SWOSU Volleyball was winless in two tries on Friday in the opening day of the Skyhawk Invitational, hosted by Fort Lewis College. The two matches featured strong early season experience against a pair of teams who combined to finish 42-17 last season.
The Bulldogs dropped the first game of the day against Colorado State-Pueblo in straight sets before being edged out by Texas A&M International in a five-set battle in the nightcap.
Action continues, and concludes, tomorrow with two more matches against Fort Lewis (2pm CST) and Angelo State (6pm CST).
SWOSU vs Colorado State-Pueblo
L, 3-0 (19-25, 17-25, 18-25)
The Bulldogs hit just .074 collectively and committed 14 more errors (22-8) than the Thunderwolves.
Lacy Mott, SWOSU's leading kills producer coming into the tournament, was kept in check and limited to just six kills and a negative attack percentage.
The Bulldogs dropped set one and looked to be in good shape in the second set after leading 11-7 before CSU-P rattled off 10 of the next 12 points to regain control of the set and match. SWOSU hung around in the final set and was within striking distance at 19-17 before another Thunderwolf spurt closed things out.
Hailey Smith turned in six kills on 10 attempts as SWOSU's most efficient points provider.
SWOSU vs Texas A&M International
L, 3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 24-26, 10-15)
Despite a strong block, SWOSU could not find a way to get a split of the day's action. The Bulldogs finished with 22 assisted blocks, the second time eclipsing the 20-plus mark already this season.
The trio of
Samantha Kuzma,
Zoey Sparks, and
Hailey Smith combined for 16 of those 22 with Sparks adding an additional solo block to her stat sheet.
SWOSU was in control at different points of the match, until they finally weren't. They claimed the opening set behind four
Cameron Turner aces and the best hitting percentage of the match and led again 2-1 before A&M International was able to win the final two frames.
Final hitting numbers showed SWOSU at .139 compared to .191 from the opposition. Mott finished with 14 kills,
Jada Permenter 16 digs.
