Oklahoma Baptist won its third top-20 match of the young 2026 season with a 3-0 win over No. 15 Central Oklahoma and a 3-2 triumph over No. 17 Missouri-St. Louis in Tampa, Fla. The Bison finished off the Tampa Volleyball Classic with a 3-0 victory against previously-4-2 Francis Marion.
Arkansas Tech (5-3, 0-0 GAC) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (5-3, 0-0 GAC) each went 3-1 at the Gorilla Classic, with SWOSU sweeping tounament-host Pittsburg State, handing PSU its first loss of the season.
Both East Central (4-4, 0-0 GAC) and Ouachita Baptist (4-4, 0-0 GAC) went 3-1 over the weekend to head into conference play .500. The orange-and-black Tigers posted consecutive five-set victories over Southwest Baptist and Christan Brothers while OBU co-hosted the Reddie-Tiger Challenge, winning three of its four matches in 10 sets.
Southeastern Oklahoma State (4-4, 0-0 GAC), Northwestern Oklahoma State (4-5, 0-0 GAC), Henderson State (3-5, 0-0 GAC), Southern Arkansas (2-6, 0-0 GAC) and Arkansas-Monticello (2-7, 0-0 GAC) fill out the current standings.
All 12 GAC programs will begin league play Tuesday, Sept. 8. with Southern Nazarene hosting Southwestern Oklahoma State operating as the game of the week.
GREAT AMERICAN CONFERENCE VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
OFFENSIVE
Rylee Unruh | Oklahoma Baptist | OH | Sr. | Lawrence, Kan.
Oklahoma Baptist senior outside hitter Rylee Unruh helped lead Oklahoma Baptist to a 3-2 week that featured wins over No. 15 Central Oklahoma and No. 17 Missouri-St. Louis. Unruh led the GAC in week two with 14 service aces while also recording 63 kills for a 4.34 points-per-set average. Unruh is currently third in the league with 3.40 kills per set while being second with 50 total aces.
DEFENSIVE
Hannah Morgan | Southern Nazarene | OPP/MB | R-So. | Waxahachie, Texas
Southern Nazarene redshirt-sophomore middle blocker Hannah Morgan recorded at least four blocks in all five of SNU’s matches this week. Against Cameron, Morgan posted a career-high seven blocks. For the week, the Lone Star State product registered 26 total blocks for a 1.24 per-set average.
SETTER
Mackenzie Sims | Southwestern Oklahoma State | S | So. | Amarillo, Texas
Southwestern Oklahoma State sophomore setter Mackenzie Sims led the conference with 10.62 assists per set for 138 total assists. In SWOSU’s two biggest wins of the week against Truman State and Pittsburg State in what was PSU’s first loss of the season, Sims averaged over 12 assists per set. Sims currently leads the GAC with 9.96 assists per set.
WEEKLY AWARDS
GAC Offensive Player of the Week
Aug. 31 Kate Wright, Southern Nazarene
Sept. 7 Rylee Unruh, Oklahoma Baptist
GAC Defensive Player of the Week
Aug. 31 Kaylon Partain, Henderson State
Sept. 7 Hannah Morgan, Southern Nazarene
GAC Setter of the Week
Aug. 31 Emily Boyer, Oklahoma Baptist
Sept. 7 Mackenzie Sims, Southwestern Oklahoma State
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