Oklahoma City—After clinching a big conference win at home on Tuesday, the Panhandle State volleyball team fell in their final two SAC contests over the weekend. The Aggies were defeated by two Top-five teams from the Sooner Athletic Conference, dropping both matches in three straight sets.
On Friday, the Aggies met with top-ranked Oklahoma City University (27-3/SAC 18-2) and fell 25-10, 25-13, 25-12. Saturday's loss was against the league's No. 5 team from Southwestern Christian who won by scores of 25-17, 25-22 and 25-20.
OCU outhit the Aggies by over 30 percent and held Panhandle to a -.009 hitting percentage for the game.
Quiara Poindexter led the team in kills with five, followed by
Summer Middleton and
Kendra Butler who each landed four kills. Middleton also put up points with a service ace along with
McKenna Clement and
Cailyn Berry who knocked in one service ace apiece. Clement totaled 26 digs at libero and Berry set up 13 assists.
Courtney Adams led the Aggies in blocks with two.
On Saturday, the Aggies put in a strong performance at SCU, improving their hitting percentage to .259. Poindexter and Butler were the teams' scorers totaling 12 and 11 points respectively on kills. Middleton made away with nine kills and Clement and Berry both tallied two aces in the game. Berry tied with SCU's Darian Parsons for the game-high in assists, each with 37; and Clement held a game-high of 16 digs.
Head Coach
Signe Coombs offered comments disclosing, "This was a disappointing weekend; particularly coming off of a week of playing our best volleyball." Coombs added, "We were sluggish and lacked intensity. These are things that we control and must change heading into conference play. We will regain focus during practice and in preparation for Tuesday, and set our sights on our post-season goals."
The Aggies stand No. 8 in the conference ranks with an overall record of 9-20 and an SAC record of 7-13. The team has achieved their best record in known history and qualifies for post-season conference play for the first time in program history. Panhandle State volleyball competes in the Sooner Athletic Conference Qualifying Match on Tuesday, Nov. 6 in OKC; they will face Oklahoma City at 7:30 p.m. and would advance with a win to the SAC Tournament Nov. 9-10, also taking place in Oklahoma City. Games will be covered with live stats and video links posted online at opsuaggies.com. More information will be released as it is made available.
