ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Volleyball Team split its matches om day one of the Tiger-Reddie Invitational, sweeping the Flames of Lee University 3-0 and falling to the Seawolves of the University of Alaska at Anchorage by a score of 3-0.
The Tigers played dominantly in the first match of the day, sweeping the Flames with set scores of 25-17, 25-17, and 25-20.
Overall, Ouachita outhit Lee .344 to .265, with the .344 hitting percentage being a season high for the team. The Tigers racked up 12 aces in the match, which was also a season high.
In the first set, Lee struck first, but the Flames' lead was not around long. After taking a 3-2 lead, Ouachita didn't trail for the rest of the set. A 5-0 Tiger run pushed Ouachita's lead out to seven points with a score of 16-9. Lee was unable to find any rhythm after that and the Tigers cruised to a 25-17 win to start the match.
The second match started like the first, except this time, the Tigers found themselves down 4-0 to start. Ouachita got it together, tying the set at 7-7 thanks in part to kills from
Emily Adams and
Leah Gardner. The set was kept close over the next few points, but a 5-0 run that included three aces from
Haley Fairchild pushed the Tigers' lead to 17-11. This gap allowed the Tigers to comfortably finish the set, winning again by 25-17.
The third set was closer from start to finish, with neither team able to put together large runs. However, Ouachita did manage a 3-0 and a 4-0 run early that proved to be the difference. The Tigers were able to keep the Flames from scoring any more than two-points in a row for the entire set, letting Ouachita stay in control to win set three 25-20 and earn the sweep 3-0.
Ouachita only allowed Lee to score three or more points in a row twice across the entire match.
Three Tigers tied for the lead in Kills:
Emily Adams,
Leah Gardner and
Kayla Steinmeyer each had 10 kills.
Courtney Hason led all setters with 35 assists. Hanson tied with Fairchild for the most Aces with four each.
Defensively, the Tigers were led by
Avery Jauz who had 22 digs and Fairchild who recorded three blocks.
The second match of the day was kept close, but with Alaska Anchorage pulling out the win in each of the three sets with the scores of 25-22, 27-25, and 25-21.
The three sets saw both the Tigers and the Seawolves trade leads until late in the sets when UAA was able to edge out Ouachita for the wins.
Despite losing, the Tigers still hit .333 as a team, their second-highest percentage of the season.
Fairchild led the offense with 11 kills, a season high for her, followed by
Emily Adams with 10. Adams also recorded a .625 hitting percentage with no errors in the match.
Kylie Kisgen recorded three aces to lead all servers.
Hanson again led in assists with 38, and Jauz led the back row with 10 digs.
The Tigers have two matches tomorrow, September 16, with the first one coming at 10 a.m. against Christian Brothers University and the second being against Union University at 3 p.m.
