HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – In a meeting between two Great American Conference schools that have won four of the first five GAC Volleyball Championships – Presented by Subway tournaments titles, Southwestern Oklahoma State won three-straight sets to defeat Arkansas Tech in four sets to close out the quarterfinals from the Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
| GAC Volleyball Championships – Presented by Subway: Quarterfinal #4 |
1 |
2 |
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| #5 Southwestern Oklahoma State (14-16) |
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25 |
28 |
25 |
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| #4 Arkansas Tech (21-12) |
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26 |
21 |
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OFFENSIVE LEADERS:
SWOSU – Carly Zak: 18 kills, 20.0 points
Kelsi Schmidtberger: 13 kills, .296 attack percentage, 17.0 points
Kayla Hebert: 51 assists
ATU – Hunter Eshnaur: 17 kills, two aces, 22.0 points
McCall Wilkins: eight kills, 10.5 points
DEFENSIVE LEADERS:
SWOSU – Schmidtberger: six blocks
Hebert: 18 digs
Kaitlyn Dillon: 17 digs
ATU – Madison Nagel: 16 digs
Wilkins: five blocks
Eshnaur: four blocks
FIRST SET HIGHLIGHTS:
The Golden Suns closed out a tightly contested opening set by winning six of the final nine points for a 25-21 win. Eshnaur paced the team with six kills and a .455 attack percentage while Kenzie Dozier added four kills. Amanda Milnick totaled 16 assists as the team hit .267. Carly Zak opened with five kills, against one error, in 12 attempts.
SECOND SET HIGHLIGHTS:
The Bulldogs nearly doubled its attack percentage in the second set from the first set (.350 vs. .184) in tying up the match after winning set two, 25-15. Defensively, they held the Golden Suns to a .079 mark. Paige Holt contributed four kills in as many attempts, tying Zak for the most kills in the set for SWOSU. The Bulldogs took control of the set by winning nine of 11 points to lead 10-5. They closed by winning six consecutive points.
THIRD SET HIGHLIGHTS:
SWOSU took the lead after winning the third set, 28-26. The set featured 18 ties and three lead changes and the Bulldogs staved off a pair of set points for the Golden Suns. Zak, will four kills and an ace led the way with 5.0 points in the set. She added five digs to achieve a double-double and Hebert also secured a double-double during the set as she totaled 11 assists and a set-high seven digs.
FOURTH SET HIGHLIGHTS:
Down 20-17, Southwestern Oklahoma State rattled off eight of the next nine points to sew up the victory. Zak and Schmidtberger each amassed five kills and combined for 11.5 points while Hebert reached the 50-assist mark with 14 in the set. Kaitlyn Dillon added eight digs and the Bulldogs defense limited the Golden Suns to a .082 attack percentage.
NOTABLE:
- SWOSU: first win by the No. 5 seed at the GAC Championships since East Central in 2011
- SWOSU: advanced to the semifinals of the GAC Championships in consecutive years for the first time
- SWOSU: first 4-set win since defeating West Texas A&M on September 3.
- Arkansas Tech – did not advance to the semifinals of the GAC Championships for the first time in the six-year history of the league
- From 2011-2014, teams winning the first set at the GAC Championships won 25 of the 28 matches. In the last two years, the teams winning the first set are just 5-6.
WHAT’S NEXT:
Southwestern Oklahoma State will face the Southeastern Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. on Friday.