Box Score ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - The Ouachita Tigers rallied late and often Wednesday night to defeat Texas A&M Commerce 3-2 (25-18, 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 17-15). Freshman
Kori Bullard led the Tiger charge with 13 kills and six blocks. Junior
Abby Pickett hammered home eight kills and five blocks to help the Tigrs dominate the play at net. The Tigers combined for 10 team blocks.
Ouachita was down early in set one, trailing the Lions 4-11. After a timeout, the Tigers regrouped and went on a 15-5 run to take a 19-16 lead and force and A&M Commerce timeout. Despite the stop in play, the Tigers would retain the momentum and closed out the set by a score of 25-18. On set two, the Tigers trailed late in the set, 15-22. Six straight points for Ouachita cut the lead to one, but A&M Commerce held on for the 22-25 win to even the match.
Set three went back and forth with neither team gaining more than a five-point advantage in the set. Trailing 21-23, the Tigers roared back with four straight to win the set.
Ashley Wake held serve for the final four points with
Kelley Ballard and
Jayme Shell doing the damage up front for Ouachita.
After a match-tying fourth set win by the Lions, it came to to the deciding fifth set. With Ouachita leading 10-7, the Lions went on a run of their own, scoring four straight to give them a 10-11 lead and force Tigers head coach
Danny Prescott to take a timeout. The two teams would trade points and with it tied 15-15, A&M Commerce held serve. The Tigers would respond with back-to-back kills by
Tara Wait and Ballard to win the set 17-15 and the match 3-2. It was the Tigers third 3-2 win this season.
Ouachita had three players with double-digits in kills.
Kori Bullard finished with 13, and
Kelley Ballard and
Tara Wait each had 10. Kelley Howk and
Abby Pickett finished with eight.
Tara Wait led the Tigers with 39 assists. Wait also had nine digs in the match.
The Tigers had five players with double-digits in digs.
Jayme Shell led the team with 21.
Ashley Wake had 20 digs,
Chelsey Hess added 16 to the Tiger total and
Anna LeTourneau and Ballard had 10 each.
The Tigers play again on September 23, when they travel across Highway 7 to take on rival Henderson State. The match is scheduled to start at 7:00 p.m.
