ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Ouachita Tigers moved to 7-6 in the Great American Conference on Tuesday, with a 3-1 win over the Henderson State Reddies. Ouachita won the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-15, before the Reddies took the third, 28-26. The Tigers ended the match with a 25-16 win in the fourth set.
Ouachita (14-9, 7-6 GAC) was able to claim a 1-0 lead due to 18 kills and only one attack error in the first set. The Tigers had a team attack percentage of .425 while holding Henderson State to only .286.
Caitlin Cantrell,
Abby Pickett and
Kori Bullard each had five kills in the set, with a combined one attack error between them.
Pickett then led the Tigers to a 2-0 lead with six kills on nine attempts in the second game. She also added two block assists, as Henderson was held to only 11 kills and seven attack errors. Ouachita dominated the set behind a 7-0 run early in the set that was later followed by another 7-0 run.
The third set featured six lead changes, until the Reddies took a 9-8 lead and did not allow the Tigers to take the lead back throughout the set.
Ashley Wake, who had recorded 11 digs in the previous two sets combined, doubled her number of digs with 11 in set three.
Ouachita responded immediately after losing the third set, with a 5-1 run to start the fourth. The Tigers would eventually win the set on a kill by
Stephanie Pollnow and take the Battle of the Ravine match from the Reddies.
Pickett led with five kills and four block assists in the final set. She finished with 20 kills, six block assists and one solo block. Bullard followed with 16 kills and only three errors, and Cantrell had 11 kills.
Stormi Leonard posted 49 assists in the match, recording her fifth consecutive match with at least 40 assists.
Ashley Wake was the only player to have at least 20 digs in the match, finishing with 27.
Nikki Clay followed with 12.
Ouachita finished with a .273 attack percentage while holding the Reddies to a .161 percentage. The Tigers are second in the GAC in team attack percentage, and Pickett leads the conference in kills per set.
Stormi Leonard also ranks at the top in the GAC with 11.11 assists per set.
The Tigers will take the court again on Thursday, when the team travels to Monticello, Ark. to take on the University of Arkansas at Monticello. The match is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
