Women's Volleyball

Three players paced Southwestern Oklahoma State with double-digit kills to help the Bulldogs outlast the Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions, 25-23, 31-29, 21-25, 25-15, on Thursday night in Weatherford, Okla.

A&M-Commerce drops to 14-9 overall and 6-4 in conference play, while Southwestern Oklahoma jumps to 13-16 and 3-8.

“This was a case of the team being mentally unprepared to compete,” said Lions head volleyball coach Mark Pryor. “They worked harder than us and deserved the win.”

The Bulldogs fought back from an early deficit in the first set and trailed until Emily Walter’s kill tied the game at 23. Staci West gave SWOSU their first lead with an ace and Kacia Sandburg and Walter’s block gave the Southwestern the 1-0 lead.

After 19 ties in the second, West slammed a kill and the Bulldogs took advantage of an A&M-Commerce error to take the 2-0 lead.

The Lions jumped out on an 18-9 spurt and never trailed in the third, but the Bulldogs answered with a big run in the fourth and closed on a 7-3 run to take the set and the match.

Walter ended with 14 kills, Sandburg chipped in 12 and Jennifer Naramore added 10 to lead the Lady Bulldogs. Sandburg also totaled a game-high 12 blocks.

Perla Faudoa led A&M-Commerce with 12 kills, 28 assists and 14 digs. Amy Addison collected 14 kills and nine digs and Lauren Flynn finished with a game-high 20 digs.

SWOSU tallied 17 blocks and held the Lions to just a .101 hitting percentage.

“Until our student-athletes make a choice to compete defensively, we will continue to be up and down,” said Pryor. “I saw how the team was warming up and I said, ‘we are going to lose this match.’ Unfortunately I was right.”

The Lions will look to rebound on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Central Oklahoma in Edmond, Okla.