ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – It only took the Ouachita volleyball team an hour and 15 minutes to sweep in-state foe Arkansas-Monticello 25-20, 25-17, 25-17 on Thursday night in front of a packed house in the Sturgis Physical Education Center.

For the second time in three seasons the Tigers have produced a 20-win season, the win also snapped a two game losing skid within Great American Conference play for the Tigers. As for the Cotton Blossoms it's back to the drawing board having been swept in back-to-back matches.

The Ouachita (20-8, 9-5 GAC) offense hit lights out as a team. The Tigers recorded at least 14 kills in each set and accumulated a .298 hitting percentage at the end of the night. Meanwhile, Arkansas-Monticello (6-24, 3-11 GAC) barley stayed in the positives with a .095 hitting percentage in the match.

The GAC's All-Time assists leader hit another milestone tonight, senior setter Stormi Leonard (Decatur, Texas) became the first player in program history to achieve 4500 assists and 1000 career digs. Leonard also recorded her 11^th double-double of the season and her 46^th of her career. The Lone Star State native needs just two more double-doubles to move into second place All-Time in the GAC.
 

Freshman Emily Low (Austin, Texas) led the offense with 11 kills on the night, it was the sixth time this season she had accomplished the feat. Junior's Tabatha Huckabee (North Richland Hills, Texas), Adrianna Nolly (Denton, Texas) and Katie Camp (Plano, Texas) followed suit with eight and seven kill games.

Tori Barnhill (Lonoke, Ark.) and Rileigh Fielder (Little Rock, Ark.) also got in on the offensive action and set season highs in kills. Julianna Mack (Little Rock, Ark.) led the team in digs with 13 and defensive specialist Shannon Hogan (Plano, Texas) finished second on the team with 7 scoops.

In the opening set Ouachita raced out to a 5-0 lead and prompted the Cotton Blossoms to take an early timeout. At one point in the set the Tigers held a 9-3 advantage over Monticello, but the Tigers let the Cotton Blossoms back in. Head volleyball coach Allison Frizzell-Kizer called a timeout at 11-10 to halt a Monticello rally. The timeout seemed to work as the Tigers maintained the lead throughout the set. Eventually the Tigers were able to pull away and win the opening set easily 25-20.

In the second set the Tigers took seven of the first ten points to take a commanding lead. Once again though the Cotton Blossoms fought back to within a point of the Tigers. At 13-12 Ouachita went into another gear with a 9-2 run. The run helped the Tigers win the second set with ease.

Ouachita made sure that the Cotton Blossoms did not win a set as they went on a 13-5 run to begin the final set. Ouachita never really struggled as they lead 20-10 late in the final set. Give Monticello credit though, the Cotton Blossoms made it interesting staving off three consecutive match points before ultimately falling.

The Tigers will have the weekend off to rest before they travel to Southern Arkansas next Tuesday evening. Ouachita finishes the regular season with at home against Arkansas Tech a week from tonight. For more information on the Ouachita volleyball team head over to obutigers.com.