Women's Volleyball | 11/10/2025 5:00:00 PM
GOODWELL, Okla. — The Oklahoma Panhandle State volleyball team (15-14, 13-9 SAC) has earned the fifth seed in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament and will travel to play at fourth-seeded Wayland Baptist (15-11, 14-8) in the opening round Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Panhandle State tied its most successful season as a member of the SAC with 13 wins, including defeating the Pioneers of Wayland in both regular season meetings.
The Aggies dropped only two sets to WBU this year on their way to winning both matches, 3-1.
Elena Kagiali, who claimed the final four SAC Attacker of the Week Awards of the season, combined for 53 kills across the eight sets.
OPSU has been led by Kagiali and her record-setting 430 kills all year, while
Winiffer Rodriguez and
Taylore Alsaid rank second and eighth in the SAC, respectively, in digs per set. Setter
Mia Sanchez, meanwhile, is one of two players in the SAC to notch over 1,000 assists in 2025 alone. At the net,
Emma Coburn and
Skyla Stark both have at least 60 blocks this season for opposition attackers to watch out for.
Though they are the lower seed, the Aggies should have confidence that they can get back to playing in the rhythm that led head coach
Ilani Dalton's team to a streak of eight straight matches with a .200 kill percentage or better from Oct. 7-31. That marked the program's longest streak since the end of 2020 going into 2021. After all, the remarkable hitting percentage streak began this season with OPSU's second victory over Wayland.
For the Pioneers' part, they have won nine of their last 13 matches, with eight of those wins being sweeps. WBU is led at the net by Fade Ogunbade, while it has ridden a total team effort of defenders on its way to averaging a SAC-high 18.59 digs per set.
The Bracket (SAC Preview)
Eight teams are set to battle in the single-elimination SAC Tournament, with the higher seeds hosting the opening round Tuesday, and the semifinals and championship matches being played at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth on Friday and Saturday.
The winner of the OPSU-WBU match Tuesday will advance to play either top-seeded Nelson or eighth-seeded Science & Arts.
Nelson and host-Texas Wesleyan are the easy favorites to advance to the SAC Championship on Saturday, as both squads boast a 20-2 record in conference play. Third-seeded Mid-America Christian (18-11, 14-8) joins WBU, OPSU and sixth-seeded Oklahoma City (16-12, 13-9) as teams trying to spoil the favorites' party.
