ADA, Okla. – The East Central University volleyball team secured the No. 6 seed at next week's Great American Conference Championship Tournament by defeating Southeastern Oklahoma State University in four sets in the regular season finale at the Kerr Activities Center on Thursday night.
ECU closes out the regular season 14-14 overall and 9-7 in conference play. The Tigers will open the postseason on Nov. 16 against Southwestern Oklahoma State University who earned the third seed in the tournament.
"I think we played well tonight," Head Coach Danielle Essix. "Southeastern pushed us, especially in set three. But I liked how we bounced back. I am super pumped about how we finished our regular season and now we look to focus on competing hard in the GAC Championships."
The opening set went point for point with Southeastern leading 8-6 early on. But a 6-1 scoring run put the Tigers out front 12-9 and they maintained control to secure the set 25-17.
Set two saw the Savage Storm take a 7-2 lead, but the Tigers clawed their way back to level the score 15-all. A kill from
Emma Strickland sparked a 5-0 scoring run, and ECU eventually closed out the set 25-23, taking the 2-0 match lead.
Despite Southeastern's comeback efforts in the third set, where they secured a 25-19 win, the Tigers regrouped in the fourth and final set.
ECU dominated with a 12-5 lead and later extended it to 21-10. Southeastern earned the next three points, but ECU took the final four points of the game to secure the 25-13 set win and 3-1 match victory over the Savage Storm.
Tiger trio
Emma Strickland,
Odalys Gonzalez, and
Jada Abercrombie led the offensive attack tonight with Strickland recording 16 kills, Gonzalez posting 13, and Abercrombie adding 10.
Sydney Roshek tallied a team-high 21 digs while Strickland and Gonzalez contributed to the back row with 16 and 15 digs, respectively.
Julia Kabala picked up 43 assists and 10 digs and
Ashleigh Miller had four blocks.
More information regarding the GAC Tournament will be posted on ecutigers.com.
