ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita Volleyball team picked up its third win in a row after sweeping the Cottom Blossoms of the University of Arkansas-Monticello at home on Tuesday night.
Tonight's win was also the second sweep in a row for the Tigers and their fourth sweep of the season.
The match started with the Tigers taking control of the first set early, jumping out to a 9-3 lead that included a 4-0 run. Ouachita kept tacking on points, with their largest lead of the set coming in at nine points with a score of 22-13. Monticello tried to make a late first-set comeback, closing the gap to 22-17, but Ouachita quickly ended the set on a 3-0 run, winning the set 25-17.
The second set was closer, with Ouachita again taking an early lead. However, this time, the Blossoms were able to answer back to close the gap. UAM took a late 17-16 lead over the Tigers, and the Blossoms were the first to reach the 20-point mark too.
But it wasn't enough for Monticello, as the Tigers found their rhythm and put together a 5-0 run to go from down two to up 24-21.
Leah Gardner ended the set with a kill to give the Tigers the 25-22 win in set number two.
The third and final set of the match started with both teams trading ties and one-point leads until Ouachita took a 10-8 lead. The Tigers held onto the two-point lead for the next few rallies until they came together for a 9-2 run that put Ouachita up 21-12. From that point, the Tigers comfortably cruised to a 25-15 win in set number three and completed the 3-0 sweep of Monticello.
Riley Braziel paced the offense with 11 kills in the match, followed by Leah Garder with eight.
Gardner led the front-row defense with five blocks, a season-high for the freshman, and the most by a Tiger in a single match this year.
Courtney Hanson led all setters with 32 assists.
Kylie Kisgen led the back row with 14 digs.
The Tigers will look to keep the streak going as they travel to Searcy, Arkansas to take on the Bisons of Harding University on Thursday, September 21 at 6 p.m.
