BOX SCORE || HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - For just the second time in the three-year history of the Great American Conference Volleyball Championship, a team rallied from a two-sets-to-one deficit to claim a victory. Ouachita Baptist came back and defeated Southwestern Oklahoma State in five sets to close out Thursday's quarterfinal round from Summit Arena.

The Lady Tigers (16-11) grabbed the first set with their first comeback of the night. The Lady Bulldogs (13-21) opened the set by taking a 16-8 lead. OBU drew even in the set for the first time since 3-3 when a kill from Kelley Ballard squared the set at 21. SWOSU briefly reclaimed the lead at 23-22, but OBU rattled off four of the final five points to win the set.

SWOSU responded with its best hitting set of the match. The Lady Bulldogs hit .271 in the second set and claimed a 25-19 win. They also took the third set, 25-22 after they opened it by winning seven of the first eight points. OBU drew as close as two points on a pair of occasions, but an Alison Cole kill closed out the set.

After falling behind early in the fourth set, 5-3, Ouachita Baptist scored 17 of the next 23 points to seize control and ultimately tie the contest. They got out to a 3-0 start in the fifth set, and although SWOSU tied the set twice late in the match, the Lady Tigers pulled out the win, their first-ever GAC Volleyball Championship match victory.

The Tigers' Tara Wait finished with 42 assists, 19 digs and 11 kills to record the second triple-double in GAC Volleyball Championship history, joining SWOSU's Lindsay Dusin. Five Tigers recorded double-digits kills and five also notched double figures in digs. Jayme Shell collected 10 digs and 29 kills. 

Joey Collins tallied a match-high 19 kills, to go along with 16 digs for SWOSU. Cole, a First-Team All-GAC performer, added 16 kills, 11 digs and five blocks. Kaila Lancaster registered a match-leading 30 digs.

The Lady Tigers draw top-seeded Harding in Friday's second semifinal, set for 6 p.m. The GAC Sports Network will carry the match at GACSportsNetwork.com. The Lady Bisons won both regular-season contests in three sets.