ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita volleyball team earned a 3-0 sweep over third-place East Central University Friday afternoon at the Sturgis Center.
Set Scores: 26-24, 25-20, 25-16
Ouachita (14-7, 5-4 GAC) started the Battle of the Tigers slow. East Central (12-9, 6-3 GAC) got out to a 5-1 lead to open the first set of the afternoon. ECU pushed its lead to five points early, but then the purple Tigers woke up. Ouachita strung together six points in a row to take its first lead of the set 9-8. The orange Tigers responded with a run of their own to go up 15-12. Ouachita tied it a few points later and from there it was back and forth with both Tiger teams trying to gain an edge. It took extra points, but Ouachita found an advantage late to take the first set 26-24.
East Central struck first again in the second set. Trailing 8-5, Ouachita found another spark and rattled off an 11-1 run that put the purple Tigers up 16-9. From that point on, it was Ouachita that was in the driver's seat. The purple Tigers held their lead for the remainder of the set to win it 25-20 and take a 2-0 match lead.
It was Ouachita that struck first in the third set and later used a 3-0 run to gain an 11-8 lead over East Central. For the next several points, Ouachita used more small runs to push its lead to 19-13. A few points later, Ouachita found that spark once again, this time for a 5-0 run that ended with a 24-15 Ouachita lead. The purple Tigers took the third set 25-16 and earned Ouachita's seventh sweep of the season. Ouachita held ECU to just six kills and a .000 hitting percentage in the third set.
This was the Tigers' first sweep of East Central since 2019. Ouachita is now 7-0 all-time against ECU at the Sturgis Physical Education Center.
Tonight's sweep marked career win number 99 for head coach
Allison Frizzell-Kizer.
Kailey Thedford led the offense with 13 kills.
Emily Adams was next with eight, followed by
Riley Braziel with seven.
Courtney Hanson led all setters with 33 assists. Hanson has now hit the 30-assist mark in 18 of the 21 matches so far this season.
Kylie Kisgen led the back row with 18 digs. Braziel and
Peyton Church were next with 10 digs each. Braziel, Hanson and Kisgen each tied for the team lead in aces with two each.
The Tigers will be back in action next week with their longest road trip of the season when they travel to Alva, Oklahoma to take on the Rangers of Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday, October 24 at 6 p.m.
