SWOSU Athletics
Doug Self, Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations
WEATHERFORD – A 15-11, fifth-set triumph lifted the SWOSU Volleyball team to a 3-2 victory over Henderson State on Saturday afternoon at the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
SWOSU led for much of the first set, including a 22-19 late in the frame, but Henderson would rally and score the final four points to win the set 25-22 and take an early lead. The second and third sets went the way of the Dawgs, who had a chance to close out the match in the fourth, but HSU pulled away to win it 25-17 and even the score.
Playing their fourth five-set match of the season and third one at home, SWOSU fell behind 2-1 before scoring three straight points off kills from Sofia Gruden and Maicee Morgan along with an attack error by HSU to make it 4-2. The set would then be dominated by runs as Henderson State went on top 5-4 but were quickly answered by five straight points by the Dawgs that made it 9-5. Henderson got within two at 11-9, at which points Emily Wood and Morgan combined for the last three points by kills to end the match at 15-11.
Maicee Morgan led the way with 21 kills for SWOSU, who also got 12 kills from Jenny Tackett and 11 from Emily Wood, who also finished with a career-high 26 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Sofia Gruden added 10 kills and four blocks while Brylee Burroughs had five kills and a team-leading five blocks.
Allie Hoang became the third player in program history to record 2,000 career assists during the match, finishing with 49 assists and 20 digs while Kaitlyn Dillon added 25 digs, six assists and one service ace from her libero position.
With the win, SWOSU finishes 6-0 against their Great American Conference foes from the state of Arkansas while improving to 9-2 in league play this season. Next up is a matchup of the top two teams in the GAC standings, with SWOSU hosting first-place Oklahoma Baptist on Thursday (Oct. 31) at 7:00 pm inside the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.