SEARCY, Ark. – SWOSU Volleyball faced off against Harding on Thursday night in Arkansas in a battle of top-ranked GAC teams. The Bulldogs got a huge lift from Zoey Sparks and another solid showing from Lacy Mott in the 3-1 win.

The victory pushes SWOSU's win streak to seven and gives them sole possession of first place in the conference standings with lots of volleyball left to play.

The Dawgs claimed sets 1, 2, and 4 en route to the win and finished strong in all three of those.  

Four aces and three blocks from the visiting Dawgs got things going in the first set. Sparks collected six kills on eight attempts to get SWOSU ahead early.

Trailing 12-11 in set two, SWOSU used scoring spurts of 3 and then 4 to flip control. Another two scoring spurts put it away for good.    

Following a decisive Harding win in set three, the Bulldogs rallied from a 6-1 deficit and opened up a lead of as many as nine by the late part of the frame. Mott matched Sparks' six kills in the opening set with six of her own to close things out. Five of SWOSU's 10 blocks in the match came in the fourth, with Sparks in on four of them.

Mott (.311) led the team with 19 kills and added 13 digs. Sparks (.400) finished with a season high 14 kills and seven blocks. Hailey Smith (.300) was one kill shy of double digits, followed by Paris Patterson (.250) with eight. Jada Permenter led all Bulldogs with 16 digs.  

The Bulldogs hit .250 or better in all four sets and limited to Harding to .169 in the match including dead-even .000 in the final set.

There won't be time to dwell on Thursday's result, with a quick turnaround against Arkansas Tech scheduled for tomorrow afternoon in Russellville. First serve for the second match in as many days is set for 4:00 pm.