Aggie Volleyball Suffers Two SAC Setbacks

Goodwell, Okla.—After bringing home two conference road wins last week, the Panhandle State volleyball team hoped to carry that momentum into their two home-court matches against Sooner Athletic Conference opponents this week. The Aggies fell in both SAC matchups, taking losses to Southwestern Christian University (3-1) on Thursday and last year’s SAC Champions, Oklahoma City University (3-0) on Saturday.

Thursday got off to a great start as the Aggies posted a win in set one by a score of 25-23 over the Eagles. SCU bounced back with wins in the final three sets 25-17, 25-11 and 25-17. Southwestern Christian’s Cashlyn Munroe held the game-high in scoring, tallying 24 points on 23 kills and on service ace. Senior Kendra Butler led the Aggies offensively with 12 kills in the game. Quiara Pointdexter added eight points on kills and Summer Middleton totaled five. Setter Cailyn Berry offered up 30 assists and libero McKenna Clement came up with 22 digs for a game-high. At the net, the Aggies were out-blocked 5-1 by the Eagles and out-hit by 16 percent.

On Saturday Panhandle looked to take an early advantage, owning the lead through the 14-14 mark. The Aggies’ last lead came at the 20-19 point, after which OCU went on to score four straight points. Two consecutive errors by the Stars gave the Aggies an opportunity to rally back, but OCU claimed the final two points on a kill and attack error to edge out the victory. The Stars sealed up their eighth SAC win with victories in sets two and three 25-15 and 25-19 respectively. Butler and Pointdexter once again led their team in kills, bringing down eight and seven points apiece. Butler also added points on three solo blocks and one assist. Berry led the game at setter with 26 assists and Clement tied for the game-high in digs with 17. OCU claimed six points on service aces, while the Aggies were unable to slip any points by on the serve.

Panhandle State volleyball now sits 4-14 on the season with a 3-7 record within the conference. The Aggies will depart on a two-week road stint beginning with games in Oklahoma City and Chickasha next week. On Friday, Oct. 5 they meet with Mid-America Christian (8-8/SAC 4-4) at 7 p.m.; then on Saturday, the team takes on the University of Science and Arts-Oklahoma (4-15/SAC 2-8) at 1 p.m. Look for online links to live stats and video streaming at opsuaggies.com.