| GAC Tournament |
| Shawnee, Okla. (FireLake Arena) |
| November 20-22 |
| COVERAGE LINKS |
SWOSU Volleyball is set for the 2025 Great American Conference Tournament, scheduled for Thursday through Saturday at FireLake Arena in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The week begins Wednesday evening with the annual awards banquet, where the league will announce all-conference teams and specialty award winners.
The Dawgs enter the tournament at 14-14 overall and 12-4 in conference play. That conference mark has become familiar territory—SWOSU has posted a 12-4 GAC record in three of the last four seasons.
The Bulldogs are 11-13 all-time in the GAC Tournament, including a 9-5 record in quarterfinal matches. SWOSU has advanced beyond the opening round in five straight postseason appearances. The semifinal round has been a different story, where the Dawgs are 1-8 overall. Their lone semifinal win came in 2015, the year they captured their only GAC Tournament championship. That season, they entered as the No. 3 seed—the same position they hold this year.
The No. 3 seed has been a familiar landing spot for the Bulldogs in the GAC Tournament. SWOSU holds a 5-3 record when entering as the three seed, with those eight games marking the most they've played from any position in the bracket. The five wins are also their highest total from any seed line, highlighted by their lone tournament title in 2015—earned during a run as the No. 3 seed.
SWOSU opens the tournament against East Central on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. in the first match of the day. The teams split their regular-season meetings, with each side winning on its home floor—SWOSU in a sweep and ECU in four sets. The Tigers enter at 10-20 overall and 7-9 in conference play, and their results have been dramatically location-dependent. ECU is 8-1 at home this season but just 2-19 in matches played outside of Ada. These two teams have met just once in postseason play with the Dawgs coming out on top in a five-set thriller in the opening round of 2023. SWOSU is 25-9 against ECU all time and have won 23 of the last 26 matchups with the Tigers.
SWOSU's offense is driven by a balanced group of attackers. Senior
Paris Patterson leads the team with 2.95 kills per set (seventh in GAC), followed by fellow senior
Hailey Smith at 2.75. Freshman
Sydnee Winfrey adds 2.17 kills per set, and
Jenna Houk rounds out the group at 1.97. Setter
Mackenzie Sims enters the tournament averaging 7.36 assists per set and carries a streak of five straight double-doubles, totaling 96 assists across her last two matches.
Defense has been the hallmark of this SWOSU team. The Bulldogs are holding opponents to a .149 hitting percentage, tied for the lowest mark in the GAC alongside regular-season and defending tournament champion Ouachita Baptist. At the net, SWOSU leads the conference in total blocks (277.5) and blocks per set (2.72), ranking third and second nationally in those categories. SWOSU features two freshman middles at the top of the GAC blocking leaderboard.
Katja Blanchat leads the conference at 1.33 blocks per set, a mark that ranks 10th nationally and stands as the second-highest total among freshmen in the country. Fellow freshman
Sydnee Winfrey follows closely behind at 1.14 per set, good for second in the GAC. Senior right-side
Hailey Smith adds another strong presence at the net, ranking sixth in the league at 0.98 blocks per set. The back line defense is led by
Jada Permenter; she averaged 5.15 digs per set which is fourth in the conference.
Should the Bulldogs defeat East Central, they would play the winner of (2) Harding and (7) Henderson State in the Semifinals. That match would have first serve at 2:00 pm on Friday.
See field preview and full schedule below.
The Field
(1) Ouachita Baptist (25-4, 15-1 GAC)
- 8-12 all time vs the Tigers
- SWOSU fell to OUA 3-1 on 10/9
(2) Harding (23-4, 14-2 GAC)
- 8-14 all time vs the Bisons
- SWOSU Swept HU on 10/17
(4) Arkansas Tech (15-11, 11-5 GAC)
- 9-15 all time vs the Golden Suns
- SWOSU fell to ATU 3-1 on 10/16
(5) Oklahoma Baptist (19-9, 11-5 GAC)
- 7-20 all time vs the Bison
- Split 2025 series with a 3-1 loss on 9/25 and a 3-1 win on 11/4
(6) East Central (10-20, 7-9 GAC)
- 25-9 all time vs the Tigers
- Split 2025 series with 3-0 win on 9/23 and a 3-1 loss on 11/6
(7) Henderson State (15-15, 7-9 GAC)
- 16-3 all time vs the Reddies
- SWOSU won 3-2 over HSU on 10/10
(8) Southern Arkansas (13-18, 6-10 GAC)
- 13-4 all time vs the Muleriders
- SWOSU Swept SAU on 10/24
The Schedule
Thursday, November 20
Quarterfinal #1 - No. 3 Southwestern Oklahoma State vs No. 6 East Central (10:00 AM)
Quarterfinal #2 - No. 2 Harding vs No. 7 Henderson State (12:30 PM)
Quarterfinal #3 - No. 1 Ouachita Baptist vs No. 8 Southern Arkansas (3:00 PM)
Quarterfinal #4 - No. 4 Arkansas Tech 3 vs No. 5 Oklahoma Baptist (5:30 PM)
Friday, November 21
Semifinal #1: Quarterfinal #1 Winner vs Quarterfinal #2 Winner (2:00 PM)
Semifinal #2: Quarterfinal #3 Winner vs Quarterfinal #4 Winner (5:00 PM)
Saturday, November 22
Championship: Semifinal #1 Winner vs Semifinal #2 Winner (3:00 PM)
