ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Volleyball team picked up its second win in a row as they swept the Crimson Storm of Southern Nazarene Friday night at the Sturgis Center.
Ouachita started the night by taking the first two points of the match. Southern Nazarene kept things close at first, but the Tigers started to pull away about halfway through the set. Ouachita took the first set comfortably by a score of 25-17.
The Tigers again took an early lead in set number two. The Storm managed to cut Ouachita's lead to 19-16, but three kills from
Kayla Steinmeyer and three aces from
Kellen Church made for a 6-0 run that ended the set with the Tigers winning 25-16 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set saw Ouachita come out swinging, using a 6-0 tear to go up 11-4 over SNU early. Southern Nazarene tried to claw its way back into the set, making it a three-point game with a score of 19-16. However, that early Tiger lead was too much for the Storm to overcome as the Tigers cruised to a 25-10 win for a solid 3-0 sweep.
Tonight's win over Southern Nazarene was the Tigers' first since 2018 and Ouachita's first sweep of the Storm in the GAC era.
In their dominating performance, the Tigers only trailed twice throughout the entire match, and that was when Southern Nazarene scored the first point of the second and third set. Other than those two points, it was all Ouachita.
It was another solid offensive performance for the Tigers, who were led by
Emily Adams for the second-straight match.
Adams led both sides with 15 kills and had a .464 hitting percentage. Braziel followed with 11 kills and a .333 percentage.
Kayla Steinmeyer was close behind with 10 kills and a .400 hitting percentage.
Staying with the front row,
Leah Gardner again led the team with four blocks. Adams was next with three.
Courtney Hanson led both teams with her 11
th double-double of the season, comprised of 33 assists and 11 digs.
Kellen Church led all servers with four aces. Gardner was next with three.
The Tigers will be looking for three in a row next week as they travel to take on the UAM Cotton Blossoms on Thursday, October 26 in Monticello, Arkansas.
