OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. –-??On Wednesday, the Southwestern College volleyball squad headed down to The Sooner State to battle both Oklahoma Wesleyan University and Mid-America Christian University. The triangular was hosted by MACU in Oklahoma City. After dropping the opening set to OKWU in match number one, SC was able to take a set from the Eagles, before falling in the next two to lose three sets to one. Then, the Builders were swept by the Evangels of MACU to round out their evening.

Set number one was a product of OKWU playing at a very high level, as they committed zero errors in the set. Southwestern did have a positive attacking percentage, but the .056 clip was nowhere near the outstanding .419 showing for the Eagles. The dominance by OKWU led to a 25-11 loss in the opening set for the Builders.

Southwestern had their best set of the night in the second, as they were able to eke out a victory with a 15 kill to four error attacking ratio, hitting at .234 for the set. OKWU still hit the ball well in the period of play, though, as they downed 17 attempts and only made four errors as well. The Builders would push the match to set number three at a 1-1 tie after winning the set 25-23.

The Moundbuilders took a step back in the third set, attacking at just a .029 percentage. Unfortunately, OKWU continued to strike at an efficient clip, hitting .257 in the tiebreaking set. Southwestern continued to stay even throughout the majority of the stanza, but fell behind in the latter stages, falling 25-18 to give Oklahoma Wesleyan a 2-1 lead.

In a fourth set which mirrored the opening stanza, SC could not climb out of an early hole, as they attacked at just .098 in the set. OKWU continued to dazzle with an attacking percentage of .271, which put them at a very respectable .294 mark for the match. A 25-14 finish in the final set handed Southwestern a 3-1 loss to a conference opponent that they will see later in the season.

The second match started slow, but finished in a much more encouraging fashion. In set number one, SC struggled mightily to get their offense going, as they only totaled five kills in the stanza. A -.033 attacking clip, in combination with the allowance of a .324 percentage from MACU, would lead to a heavy 25-12 loss in the match's opening set.

In the second set, things did not go much better, as it was another five-kill set where the Builders attacking clip was a wash (.000). Positively for SC, MACU slowed down a bit, coming in at .196 as attackers. That did not make much of a difference, though, as the Evangels finished off the Builders 25-15 in the second period.

The final set was better for the Builders, as they improved to 11 kills in the stanza. They had their second-best attacking period of the night, hitting at a .200 clip. Mid-America Christian, though, attacked at .289 and racked up a total of 15 putaways to end the match with a 25-21 win in the final set.

Statistically, as an offense, the kill number were down for SC. However, there were a few strong performances, as Hannah Weber came through with nine kills on 29 tries in the opener against OKWU. Kinley Williams had seven kills on 29 attempts in the same match. Then, in the second battle, Grace Webster was awarded five kills on just five attacking attempts. KaSandra Lyons, Brianna Ede and Weber each had four kills in that match, as well.

Sierra Norlin led the way as a setter with 27 combined assists through two matches. She had 19 dimes in the first battle and eight more in the latter of the two bouts. Maela Stevens also added value as a setter, racking up 18 total assists over the course of the battles. She tallied 13 in the first of two matches, while adding on five against MACU to close out the evening.

On defense, Sophia Wicker continues to rack up kills as the leader in that category in both matches. She picked up 19 digs in the match against the Eagles, before 19 more were added against the Evangels. Kinley Williams had 16 digs in the opener, and had double-digit digs in each match with 10 more in the MACU tilt.

It has been a difficult start to the campaign for the Builders (1-5), but the tough competition will be good for the team as they get closer to the start of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) slate. Prior to that, though, SC will have the Friends Triangular to attend on Saturday, September 3. They will play Friends University at 11 a.m. and then follow that up with a battle against Bethany College at 1 p.m. in Wichita, Kan.

--buildersports.com--