ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Volleyball opened Great American Conference action with a five-set loss to the Henderson State Reddies Tuesday night in the Tigers' first home match of the season.
To say this match was back-and-forth would be an understatement as sets, points and leads were traded from start to finish.
Ouachita came out hot; out hitting Henderson .313 to .176 in the first set. The two rivals traded leads to start set number one, with the Reddies scoring first before Ouachita answered back with a small lead of their own. Neither side could claim much ground until the Tigers pieced together a late 3-0 run to go up 19-15. After trading the next five points, it was a three-point set, with Ouachita leading 21-18. However, Ouachita went on a 4-0 tear with kills from
Kellen Church,
Emily Adams, and
Riley Braziel to win the set 25-18.
The second set was a mirror image of the first, with both teams trading points until two late runs for Henderson proved to be the difference, with the Reddies winning 25-20.
The third set started close but after Henderson took a 10-8 lead, the Tigers woke up, ripping off an 11-1 run that took Ouachita from down by two to up by eight with a score of 19-11. The Reddies tried to chip away at the Tigers' lead, but it was no use, as Ouachita held on to win by a score of 25-16 capped off with a
Kayla Steinmeyer kill.
Again, the fourth set looked like the third set, just flipped. After a close start, The Reddies added late runs to win 25-16 and force a decisive set five. Set five went in favor of Henderson, as the Tigers found themselves in an early deficit that could not come back from. Henderson took set five 15-10, winning the match 3-2.
Offensively, the Tigers were led by
Emily Adams with 13 kills and a .433 hitting percentage.
Haley Fairchild was next with nine and a .471 hitting percentage.
Courtney Hanson racked up 33 assists to lead all setters.
Avery Jauz led the back row with 17 digs on the match.
The Tigers will be back in action with a busy weekend as they will be co-hosting the Tiger-Reddie Invitational. Ouachita has four matches lined up, with the two Friday matches being against Lee University at 9 a.m. and Alaska Anchorage at 5 p.m. The two Saturday matches are against Christian Brothers at 10 a.m. and Union University at 3 p.m.
