By COURTLIN HAYGARTH | HSU Sports Network

ARKADELPHIA — Henderson State will make its last trip to the Sooner State this week to face Northwestern Oklahoma State University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University in back-to-back matches. The Reddies take the court against the Rangers on Thursday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. Then, on Friday, HSU will battle the Dawgs at 4 p.m. in the Pioneer Cellular Event Center.
 
Henderson State (7-14, 1-8)
HSU came up short against Southeastern Oklahoma State University and East Central University, losing both matches in the fifth set.
 
In the attack, Christiane Uzoh had 34 kills over the two matches, including a career-high 20 against East Central. Setter Madison Hatt had back-to-back double-doubles, tallying 27 assists and 12 digs in the Southeastern Oklahoma match and 30 assists and 14 digs against East Central. 
 
Kaitlyn Sykes led the defense with five and six blocks, respectively, versus SE and ECU. After tallying 11 blocks across two matches, Sykes now ranks ninth on the conference blocks leaderboard. 
 
The last victory for HSU over Northwestern Oklahoma was in 2018 when they defeated the Rangers 3-0. The Reddies have lost the last two meetings against Northwestern Oklahoma. The overall record between the two sides is 5-4 in favor of the Rangers.
 
Henderson defeated Southwestern Oklahoma in their last matchup, but the Dawgs hold the advantage in all-time meetings with 11 wins and four losses. The Reddies have won two of the previous three meetings, defeating the Dawgs 3-1 in both victories. 
 
Scouting Northwestern Oklahoma State  
After losing back-to-back matches to Oklahoma Christian University and Harding University, the Rangers got back to winning, defeating Arkansas Tech 3-0 in their last match. Northwestern Oklahoma is 6-3 in conference play and is third in the GAC standings.
 
Against Harding and Arkansas Tech, Addison Wimmer led the Ranger attack with 25 kills across the two matches. The sophomore has racked up 319 for the season, with 152 coming in GAC matches. Wimmer tops the points and kills leaderboard, scoring 371 points and averaging 4.32 kills a set.   
 
In defense, the Rangers are led by Carmae Jones and Ravyn Burns, who have registered 72 and 69 total blocks, respectively. When it comes to receiving serves and attacks, freshman Andrea Coady has tallied 390 digs in 73 sets.
 
Scouting Southwestern Oklahoma State
Southwestern Oklahoma is on a two-losing streak and has split its last two GAC matches, defeating Arkansas Tech University and falling to Harding University. The Dawgs have a 10-10 overall record and are 6-3 in conference play.
 
On the net, Zoey Sparks leads the team and conference with 75 total blocks – 18 solo and 57 assists –and averages 1.14 per set. In the last two matches, the sophomore had seven blocks against Harding and four versus West Texas A&M University. Sparks also had 16 kills across the two matches.
 
Sophomore outside hitter Lacey Mott has a team-high 248 kills over 72 sets. Mott, in her last two matches, recorded ten and six kills, respectively, against Harding and West Texas A&M. The sophomore is fourth on the kills leaderboard, averaging 3.44 a set, and has scored the fifth most points in the conference.
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