WEATHERFORD – SWOSU Volleyball avenged a previous loss to East Central on Thursday with a 3-0 result and in doing so, secured the No. 1 seed in the upcoming GAC Tournament for the first time in school history.
 
SWOSU (18-7, 13-1 GAC) got even with ECU after suffering a 3-2 reverse sweep loss to the Tigers back on September 26. The win gives SWOSU at least a share of the regular season championship and they can clinch the title outright with a win in either of their final two regular season matches.
 
On Thursday, the Bulldogs dug out of a first set hole to get things going. Trailing 15-9 and having already needed a timeout to regroup, the Bulldogs used three timely blocks to fuel the mid-set comeback. Lacy Mott had nine of her 20 kills in the first stanza and SWOSU finished strong in a 25-22 set victory.
 
The Dawgs cruised to a 2-0 lead in the match by hitting better than .300 for a second consecutive set in the second and benefited from seven ECU errors. They closed out the night in set three with another four blocks and a combined nine kills from Mott and Paris Patterson.
 
Mott hit .385 for the match and eclipsed the 20-kill mark for a sixth time this season. She also surpassed the 1,500-kill milestone – now one of two players in the program to have done so.
 
Patterson (.368) fell one kill shy of double digits. Jada Permenter led the way with 16 digs as one of three Bulldogs to collect 10 or more. Setters Terez Chavez (11) and Cameron Turner (10) were the other two while combining for 43 assists.
 
The Bulldogs finished with nine blocks, led by Hailey Smith who had a solo and was in on another five.
 
The offense hit .275 in the match and limited ECU to .083.
 
The regular season concludes next week with a pair of matches. SWOSU hosts Northwestern on Tuesday (Nov. 12) for Senior Day before closing out the schedule on the road against Southeastern on Thursday. The GAC Tournament commences November 21-23 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.