Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Wichita, Kan.—With five conference matches remaining on the season, the Panhandle State volleyball team has opportunities on the horizon to improve their 3-21 record and add a Heartland win to the books.

The Aggies struggled on the road this weekend beginning with a disappointing 3-0 defeat in Fort Smith on Friday. UAFS took three straight sets as the Aggies started off sluggish falling 25-12 and 25-8 in the first two sets, before amping up their efforts in set three. Panhandle kept things close throughout most of the third set and owned the lead on two separate occasions, including a 14-13 advantage after Bristen Graves broke the 11th tie of the game with a service ace to gain the lead for the Aggies. But, the Lions went on to outscore the Aggies 12-3 to earn the 25-17 win, claiming their 16^th victory of the season to remain undefeated in Heartland Conference play (8-0).

Freshman Kendra Butler led the Aggies in hitting against UAFS landing seven kills on 19 attacks and getting the team's only solo block of the game. The Lions' Kennadi Coleman hit a game-high with 14 kills on 35 attacks and served up five aces on the Aggies. UAFS also held game-highs in assists as Erin Black offered 30, and digs with Emily Tripp contributing 22 on the game. Julia Ibarra had 13 assists for the Aggies and tied libero Abigail Reinick for the team-high in digs with 11.

On Saturday the Aggies faced another strong conference opponent at Newman, with the Jets claiming final victory in three sets as well (25-15, 25-17, 25-17). The Aggies were held to an average of .079 hitting percentage over the game with their best performance coming in set two when they landed ten kills on 26 attacks for a .346 hitting percentage; unfortunately for Panhandle, the Jets also saw their strongest play in the second set totaling 18 kills on 29 attacks for a .552 percentage.

Butler and senior hitter Emily Goeken held the highs for the Aggies against Newman with Butler taking seven kills and Goeken landing six. Aliya Higginbotham totaled a game-high of eight kills for the Jets followed by teammate Emily Harvey with seven. Leading setters for the game were Newman's Milica Petricevis with 20 assists and Ibarra for Panhandle with 12. Ibarra tied two Jets for the game-high in digs with 12.

Head Coach Mike Stephens is confident that his team is capable of more stating, "Once we begin to play we compete well. We have to play with that sense of urgency from the first serve on. Ultimately errors cost us sets."

The Aggies will return to the road this week, heading south for two more Heartland Conference matches in Texas. They begin in Laredo with a game against Texas A&M-International (1-17) on Thursday at 7 p.m. and then travel to San Antonio for a contest with St. Mary's (11-11) on Saturday at Noon. Panhandle Volleyball then looks forward to a few games on their home court starting with the Halloween Spiketacular event on Thursday, Nov. 3. Aggie fans can follow along with every serve while the Aggies are away; live stats and video links are available on the team's schedule page at opsuaggies.com.