ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Ouachita volleyball team came away with a victory in a five set thriller against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Friday night.

With the victory Ouachita (18-6, 7-3 GAC) remains in a tie for fourth place with Arkansas Tech going into tomorrow afternoon's game against top ranked Southwestern Oklahoma State. Northwestern Oklahoma State (15-10, 4-6 GAC) is currently holding on to the eighth and final conference tournament position.

A trio of Tiger players came away with double-digit kills in the contest. Adrianna Nolly (Denton, Texas) led the team with 18 kills and 6 blocks, Katie Camp (Plano, Texas) registered 16 kills and freshman Emily Low (Austin, Texas) added 10 kills and 6 blocks in the contest. The GAC All-Time career assists leader began to distance herself from the rest of the top-five. Stormi Leonard (Decatur, Texas) registered 54 assists in the match, this was her fourth match this season with at least 50 assists. Libero Julianna Mack (Little Rock, Ark.) once again led the team with 27 digs, followed by Shannon Hogan (Plano, Texas) with 16, Hannah Johnston (Greenwood, Ark.) with 13 and Nikki Clay (Bryant, Ark.) 11 digs.

The first set was a back-and-forth contest between the two teams. Ouachita began to take advantage of some key mistakes by the Rangers offense midway through the opening set. The Tigers started to distance themselves from Northwestern Oklahoma at the 9-8 portion of the opening stanza. After an attack error by Nolly the Rangers appeared to be on the verge of tying the frame up at 17 all, but back-to-back kills by the Camp and Paige Williams (Springdale, Ark.) insured that the Tigers would maintain the advantage. The Rangers never threatened again as Low finished off the set with a kill.

In the second set it was the Tigers that found themselves down 10-7 early in the frame. A quick 3-0 run by Ouachita tied the set up at 10 and gave the Tigers the momentum they needed. Tied at 12 the Tigers exploded on offense and generated an 8-1 run to take a commanding lead over the Rangers. Ouachita sailed to a 25-19 second set victory, the Tigers hit .359 and .310 in the opening two sets of play.

The Tigers appeared to be clicking on all cylinders heading into the third set. Ouachita won six of the first nine points in the set, but then watched as Northwestern Oklahoma raced ahead with an 11-3 run. Down 14-9 the Tigers used a quick 3-0 run to pull within a pair of points of the Rangers. Ouachita fell behind 21-15 before they were able to counter the Rangers run, the Tigers made it interesting down the stretch as they pulled within a point at 24-23. Brooklynn Hesson closed the set out for the Rangers despite the fact they only hit .118 in the set.

The fourth set was all Northwestern Oklahoma State as they raced ahead to a 17-12 lead. At 20-14 it appeared that the Rangers would all but close out the set with ease. Ouachita charged back into the set with a 4-0 run, bringing the crowd and bench to a roar as Northwestern State was forced to use a timeout up 20-18. The Tigers kept the pressure on the Rangers and eventually tied the set up at 21 all, prompting the Rangers to use their second timeout of set. At 24 all it was anyone's match but Kiauna Clark hit back-to-back winners for the Rangers to force a fifth and decisive set.

The Tigers started out slow in the fifth set, falling behind 3-1. Then the Tigers began to pick-up momentum and used several three and four point spurts to tie the match at six all. Ouachita then finished off their prey with a 9-2 run to close out the fifth set. Ouachita hit .421 in the final set and held Northwestern to a .000 hitting percentage.

Ouachita will look to knock off top ranked Southwestern Oklahoma State tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m. Game coverage links can be found at obu.tigers.com or follow the official social media accounts of Ouachita Athletics.