SEARCY – The Harding volleyball team fell to Southwestern Oklahoma 3-1 (19-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-21) on Saturday in Great American Conference action at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House.

RECORDS

Southwestern Oklahoma improves to 12-8 overall and 6-3 in the GAC. Harding falls to 11-11 overall and 6-3 in the GAC.

SET ONE HIGHLIGHTS

Trailing 9-6 in the first set, Harding went on a 7-2 run on five kills to lead 13-11. The Lady Bisons continued to build on their lead and went on to win the set 25-19. Harding had 18 kills in the set and hit .429.

SET TWO HIGHLIGHTS

Harding jumped out to a 15-10 in the second set but allowed Southwestern Oklahoma to come back as the Bulldogs took a 19-18 lead on a 9-3 run. Tied at 22, Southwestern Oklahoma had back-to-back kills and a service ace to win the set 25-22.

SET THREE HIGHLIGHTS

Harding led 11-8 in the third set until Southwestern Oklahoma went on a 4-1 run to tie the set at 12. The Lady Bisons took a 16-15 lead on a kill by Molly Howard but the Bulldogs took the next four points to lead 19-16. Southwestern Oklahoma only allowed Harding to score three more points as it won 25-19.

SET FOUR HIGHLIGHTS

Harding took a 6-2 after a 4-0 run on two kills by Molly Howard. Southwestern Oklahoma then went on an 11-2 run to lead 13-8. The Lady Bisons battled back and took an 18-14 lead on a 10-1 run. Harding had eight kills during its run. The Bulldogs battled back to pull within one 19-18 but Harding had the next two points to lead 21-18. Southwestern Oklahoma didn't allow the Lady Bisons to score again as they went on a 7-0 run to win the set and the match.

TEAM STATS

Harding's loss snapped a five match winning streak and a six match home winning streak.

Harding falls into a three way tie for fourth place in the GAC standings. The top eight teams advance to the GAC Tournament held in Hot Springs, Arkansas Nov. 18-21.

The Lady Bisons had 58 kills in the match and three players had over 10 kills. Harding had 20 attack errors in the match but went onto hit .252.

Southwestern Oklahoma had 50 kills and hit .245.

INDIVIDUAL STATS

Harding was led by senior outside hitter Molly Howard who had 15 kills and seven digs. Freshman outside hitter Emily Clayton had a season-high 14 kills and freshman middle blocker Zoe Hardin had 11 kills.

Junior defensive specialist Anna Leigh Cargile had a match-high 24 digs for the Lady Bisons. Sophomore outside hitter Taylor Mounts tied a season-high with five blocks.

Southwestern Oklahoma was led by Carly Zak who captured a double-double with 17 kills and 11 digs. Kelsi Schmidtberger added 12 kills and Jill Green had 10 kills. Kaila Lancaster led the defense with 14 digs.

UP NEXT

Harding will be back in action on Friday when it travels to Shawnee, Oklahoma to face Oklahoma Baptist at 5:30 p.m.