SWOSU volleyball is known for being unstoppable, resilient, and high-powered on the court. The resilient and high-powered team’s performance on the court all starts off the court. The difference between a good team and a great team starts with team culture. SWOSU volleyball preaches family and ultimately family has always stayed their number one focus and priority as a team. Both coach and teammates emphasize how SWOSU volleyball is family above anything else.

“I think the biggest thing that describes SWOSU volleyball as a whole is family. It’s everywhere in our locker room…It’s repeated all the time in our meetings. That’s really what we want to base everything around is family,” Senior Lacy Mott said. “Right when you walk on campus it’s a different atmosphere. It’s a family. My second team is in the locker room and coach [Collins] truly cares about you as a person, not just you as a volleyball player,” Senior Maciee Morgan said. “…He [Collins] asks how your family is, how is school going, and volleyball is the last thing on his list,” Morgan continues.

SWOSU volleyball upholds an uplifting and family-driven culture in many ways. No matter how the girls show their support, they show it in a positive and encouraging way. The team cheers each other on through a motto that they use on the court that translates to off the court as well.

“Our motto this year and last year is ‘TAO’ which means, ‘Together as one’,” Morgan said. “…We are not playing for ourselves. We are playing for each one of us…I feel when we are on the court, every single one of us wants to win that game, and we all have that grit coach wants us to have and that resilience,” Morgan said.

“Together as one” shines through off the court just as much as it shines through on the court for SWOSU volleyball. The team practices this motto not only through each other’s successes but also through each other’s hardships.

“This is my fifth year and I think this is the best team culture we’ve had so far,” Morgan said. “I think we all truly love each other…and we’re all just sisters. We laugh together, cry together, everything. We go through all the pain together, go through all the ups and downs and I just think it’s great this year.”

The team loves to incorporate fun into their family atmosphere. The girls show their love for each other through dance parties in the locker room, fun personal handshakes, and words of encouragement through both their highs and lows.

“We dance a lot before games and have a party in the locker room before we come out and a lot of us have handshakes with each other. They’re all goofy and fitting to each person who’s in it and then we do a team breakout in the middle before every set.” Zoey Sparks said.

Behind this strong and resilient team, lives a school and a community rooting for them every step of the way. SWOSU volleyball is a team built off of family and community. Coming from that family environment, this team knows where they come from and strives to pay their respects to SWOSU.

“I think our main goal not only for this year but every year is just to represent SWOSU the way it needs to be represented,” Head Volleyball Coach Josh Collins said. “I think our players have a deep sense of pride in being Bulldogs and being a part of not only our program but being a part of this school. I think that we consider it an honor but also a responsibility every time we put on that uniform but also every time we go to class and every time we go to the community.”

As this team keeps SWOSU and the community at the forefront, so does Weatherford.

“We preach family a lot and I think that we can preach family within our program because our campus and our community emulate family on a daily basis,” Collins said. “If you’re coming to SWOSU because of the beaches and the shopping, you’re going to be disappointed, but if you look at all the great things that we offer as a community, it’s hard to beat. I think that they [Volleyball girls] see that community and it takes them a little bit to buy in sometimes, but once they see it then you can’t unsee it, and they take that with them throughout the world and create that in other places, which is exactly what we want as a program and as a university.”

Support your Lady Bulldogs this Thursday 9/27 at 6:00 for Jersey night and wear your favorite Jersey!