Despite having five players with double-digit kills and a 12 kill, 34 assist, 11 dig triple-double from freshman
Haley Higgins, the Henderson State volleyball team fell on Friday night to Southwestern Oklahoma State 3-2 (25-20, 25-20, 24-26, 17-25, 15-17). The loss drops Henderson to 6-4 overall in the Great American Conference.
The Reddies came out strong in the first set, propelling themselves to a 19-14 advantage. The Bulldogs did their best to trim the lead and cut it to 22-20, but Henderson won three straight points from there, taking opening frame 25-20.
The second set was more of the same. Henderson cruised to a 15-7 lead early before SWOSU went on a 7-1 run to cut the lead to two points at 16-14. From there the Reddies slowly pulled away again, ultimately finishing it off just like the first set, 25-20, to jump out to a 2-0 advantage in the match.
Henderson looked to close things out in the third set. Despite trailing early 10-3, the Reddies slowly chipped away and ultimately snatched the lead back with a chance to close the match out at 24-22. SWOSU responded, however, and ripped off a 4-0 run to keep themselves alive and win set three 26-24.
Having taken the momentum back from the Reddies, the Bulldogs cruised to a 25-17 victory in the fourth set to knot the match up at 2-2 and send it to a fifth and final set.
In the tightly contested final frame the Reddies rallied one final time and trailing 12-10 clawed their way back to a 14-13 lead and a third match point of the day. But it was not to be for Henderson, as SWOSU staved off the match point and then took two of the next three to take the set 17-15 and the match 3-2.
The Reddies had an excellent offensive game despite the loss. In addition to Higgins' triple-double, Henderson had five players with double-digit kills on the night, including 21 and a .341 attack percentage from sophomore
Sharon Tukuaoga. Freshman
Kamra Jackson also had a double-double, notching 16 digs and 11 kills, while junior
Sydney Skelton had 29 digs in defeat.
Henderson's next game is tomorrow at 2 p.m. against Northwestern Oklahoma State in the Duke Wells Center.
