WEATHERFORD, Oklahoma – The Ouachita volleyball team persevered through a stormy first set on Thursday night to earn a five-set Great American Conference road victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State.
SWOSU opened the match with a dominant 25-10 win, but Ouachita regrouped before the second to put up a 25-22 win and even the match. The Tigers had more struggles in the third set, falling 25-20 to put the Bulldogs up 2-1 in the match.
Now with their backs against the wall and needing a win to stay alive, the Tigers did just that in the fourth set, taking down the Bulldogs 25-20 to force a fifth and deciding set.
Ouachita dominated early in the fifth set, going up 8-2 before the Bulldogs could muster any sort of offensive attack. SWOSU made a push late, but the Tigers slammed the door, winning the final three rallies on kills from
Ella Irons,
Kylie Craven, and
Leah Gardner.
Four Tigers reached double digits offensively, led by 16 kills and a .560 hitting percentage from
Sophie Henry. Irons added 14 kills. Craven finished with 12. Gardner also had 12 kills and was a force at the net defensively in the win with seven block assists.
Mack Bidwell turned in a career-high 49 assists in the win, which marked her fourth match this season with at least 40. She also had a career-high 19 digs to give her seven double-doubles this season.
Kylie Kisgen led the back row with a season-high 26 digs.
Ouachita improved to 8-10 overall and 4-2 in GAC matches with the win. SWOSU drops to 11-7 overall and 4-2 in the GAC.
The Tigers finish their road trip on Friday with a match against Northwestern Oklahoma State in Alva starting at 4 p.m.
