Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Goodwell, Okla.—The Oklahoma Panhandle State University volleyball team entered into conference play this week with back-to-back Heartland matchups Wednesday and Thursday evening.

Last year's conference championship runners up came to town Wednesday as the Aggies faced a 2-2 St. Edward's University team. The Hilltoppers took three straight sets winning 25-18, 25-23 and 25-20. Service errors plagued the Aggies throughout the match giving up 5 points on serves alone in the first set. Bouncing back in game two the Aggies battled until the bitter end when two attack errors put the winning points on the board for SEU. Six service errors in the third set gave the Toppers easy points to help seal their first conference win.

St. Edward's averaged .124 in hitting percentage to OPSU's .074 for the game. For the Aggies, freshman Kailtyn Carr was consistent at the net with seven kills on twelve attacks; Summer Middleton was close behind with six total kills. Senior Celci Bakos and junior Abigail Reinick led the team in assists with 13 and 11 respectively and libero Dejiana Rubio totaled 10 digs.

The Aggies came to play Thursday afternoon as they took on another top conference opponent in the Dallas Baptist Lady Patriots. OPSU got off to a great start in the first set owning a solid lead through the first half of the game. DBU tied the score at 10-10 and took control for the remainder of the set to win 25-18. Though the Aggies were down the majority of game two they stayed within reach the entire set, falling 22-25 in the end. Looking for a comeback in set three the Aggies fought for every point taking the game to a 24-26 finish in favor of the Lady Patriots.

Carr put up another seven points for the Aggies with seven kills on 16 attempts along with Riley Abert who totaled seven points on six kills and a block. Bakos and Reinick also led in assists; Reinick leading the team with 12 and Bakos with 10. Reinick and Rubio each totaled 11 digs in the match. Overall the Aggies played a much-improved game against DBU averaging .137 in hitting percentage and keeping the service errors in single digits with eight; senior Bakos also delivered two of the team's three aces.

Coach Mike Stephens feels that the team is on the brink of success saying, "We're really close. We need to start playing without fear and start living in the moment."

The Aggies round out their busy week of play with a weekend tournament hosted by East Central University. They begin Friday in Ada, Okla. with two games starting at 2 p.m. against ECU followed at 5 p.m. with a matchup against Southern Arkansas. The tournament continues on Saturday in Durant, Okla. as they take on Southern Nazarene at Noon and then close out the day with a game against Southeastern at 7 p.m. Live stat links for most matches are available online at the OPSU Volleyball schedule page on the Aggie Athletics website.

OPSU Volleyball will compete on the road for the remainder of the month and will return to the Oscar Williams Field House Oct. 4 for a Pink Out match against Texas A&M-International. Good luck and safe travels to the Aggie volleyball team!