Volleyball Falls in Five Sets

November 1, 2008

WEATHERFORD, Okla. – Southwestern Oklahoma State came within an eyelash of pulling off a stunning comeback but let the it slip away at the end, losing 3-2 to Texas Woman’s University  in an entertaining volleyball match Saturday in Weatherford. Texas Woman’s won by scores of 25-13, 25-15, 19-25, 21-25, 17-15.

The loss left the Bulldogs with a 13-17 overall record and a 3-9 in the Lone Star Conference. TWU improved to 18-11 and 7-4 in league play. SWOSU has two more games remaining this season first at St. Gregory’s on Tuesday before closing out Thursday, Nov. 6 at home against Central Oklahoma.

Against TWU, SWOSU had a sluggish first two games as the Pioneers won easily without much challenge. The tempo of the match changed in game three as the Bulldogs began to tighten up on the defensive end and started to take the attack to a wilting TWU.

SWOSU was near flawless in game three with a .297 hitting percentage after hitting at .000 or lower in the first two games. SWOSU had 14 kills against three errors in 37 attacks.

Game four, SWOSU took control early leading by as much as 12-2 before the teams began to exchange points back and forth. SWOSU won 25-21 with four points being the closest that TWU came.

In the fifth and final set, SWOSU again had an early advantage leading  8-4 before TWU began its charge. The Pioneers got to within 12-10 before the Bulldogs had the first of what would be two match points at 14-13. Another match point came at 15-14, but the Pioneers again answered before winning it at 17-15.

Individually, SWOSU was led by Kacia Sandburg who had 16 kills against only eight errors in 46 attacks. Emily Walter, Breawn Waynes and Staci West each had eight kills for the Bulldogs who finished with 51 as a team and ended the game hitting .097.

Defensively, SWOSU was led by Kayla Bader who came up with 20 digs for the second time this season.