ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – In any rivalry game one can throw out the records of the two teams and watch the teams compete for every point in the contest; Thursday night was nothing short of an instant classic between Ouachita and Henderson State. Unfortunately, for the Tigers they found themselves on the losing end of a five set thriller.

Ouachita (11-6, 2-3 GAC) has now lost three consecutive matches for the first time this season. The Tigers have not lost three in a row since the 2017 Arkansas Tech Tournament and Ouachita has not dropped four in a row since the 2013 campaign.

Statistically speaking Ouachita was the better of the two teams. The Tigers had a better hitting percentage (.266) than the Reddies (.238) and the Tigers committed seven less errors than the Reddies.

Meanwhile, Henderson State (15-2, 4-0 GAC) extends their winning streak to 14 consecutive games. The Reddies have yet to lose in the month of September.

In the opening set, it was clear that the two teams were geared up to play an all-time great match. Neither team wanted to yield a point to the other and multiple times a long rally broke out over the course of the opening set. Tied at 17 the Tigers began to make their move, Adrianna Nolly (Denton, Texas) had back-to-back kills and Tabatha Huckabee (North Richland Hills, Texas) put the exclamation point on a short 3-0 run. The Reddies stayed around though and tied the set up at 24 all, but the Tigers stood strong and won the final two points of the set to take the opening frame 26-24.

The second set was very similar to the first set. The two teams traded points with one another and each traded turns in going on three point spurts. The turning point of the set came at the 21-21 mark; Henderson State won the final four points of the set to tie the match at a set apiece.

In the third set, the Ouachita offense began to click and showed how potent their offense truly was. The Tigers hit .474 as a team, collected 18 kills in the set and most importantly, they did not commit a hitting error in the set. Ouachita costed to a 25-15 set win and took a 2-1 lead going into the fourth set.

Ouachita appeared to have all the momentum in the match as they raced out to an 8-3 lead in the fourth set. The Reddies kept pestering the Tigers and hung around to make it a 12-11 game. A quick 3-0 spurt by the Tigers appeared to be the nail in the coffin for Henderson State. Ouachita held a 19-13 advantage and was on the verge of victory, but the Reddies scored four consecutive points to stay in the contest. Ouachita had match point twice and failed to put the Reddies away, Henderson State took advantage and ended up winning the set 27-25.

In the fifth and final set, it was clear that Henderson had the upper hand. A relatively dormant crowd suddenly came alive again. Ouachita fought for every point in the set but could not get the ball to bounce in their favor. Henderson State took the final set of the night 15-11.

The loss for Ouachita breaks a four match-winning streak over the Reddies. The last three Battle of the Ravines have been five set matches and this was the second consecutive five set match played by the Tigers.

A sextuplet of Tigers had big nights but it was not enough to overcome the Reddies offensive attack. Senior setter Stormi Leonard (Decatur, Texas) reset her career high in assists with 69. The mark also gives Leonard the Great American Conference record for assists in a five set match.

Sophomore libero Julianna Mack (Little Rock, Ark.) recorded a career high 48 digs in the contest. The 48 scoops ties her with Madison Nagel of Arkansas Tech for the most digs in a five set match.

Nolly led the offense with a career high 24 kills. This is the third match this season in which the junior has recorded at least 20 kills. Fellow junior Katie Camp (Plano, Texas) tied her season high tally of 16 kills in the five set contest against the Reddies.

Huckabee registered 15 kills in the contest it was her third double-digit kill match of the season. Freshman Emily Low (Austin, Texas) recorded a career high 14 kills in the match.  

Ouachita will look to break out of their current slump next week against Austin College and Howard Payne University. For more news on the Ouachita volleyball team head over to www.obutigers.com.