ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita volleyball team kept its winning streak alive with a four-set victory over Southern Arkansas at home on Thursday night.
Final set scores were 25-19, 27-29, 25-20, and 25-10. The Tigers have now won 12 matches in a row and improve to 22-3 overall and 12-0 in Great American Conference play. SAU drops to 10-16 overall and 4-8 in GAC matches.
In the first set, the Tigers controlled the pace early, not letting SAU win more than two in a row until late. With Ouachita up 23-14, SAU rattled off four straight points to slow the Tiger attack, but not stop it with Ouachita winning two of the final three rallies to take the opener.
As the score indicates, the second set was back-and-forth with 10 tie scores and four lead changes. The Tigers held set point on three different occasions late, but each time was met with an SAU rally. The Muleriders won three in a row at the end to even the match at 1-1.
The third set was back-and-forth early, but the Tigers used an 8-0 run to take a 22-13, which was a big enough lead to hold off a late SAU push.
The fourth set was all Tigers. Ouachita posted its best percentage of the match in the final frame with 12 kills and two errors on 32 swings for a .312 percentage.
Overall for the match, Ouachita outhit SAU .208 to .112.
Riley Braziel led the way with a match-high 16 kills and a .333 hitting percentage to go along with 15 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.
Emily Adams followed with 12 kills and three blocks.
Haley Fairchild,
Kailey Thedford, and
Leah Gardner all had seven kills in the win.
Courtney Hanson totaled a match-high 45 assists and 12 digs for her 16th double-double of the year.
Kylie Kisgen posted a team-high 23 digs and three service aces.
Savannah Whitaker and
Peyton Church also reached double digits in digs with 16 and 12, respectively.
The Tigers totaled 10 service aces in the win for the team's third double-digit performance in the category. Ouachita also finished with 13 total blocks in the win to tie a season-high.
Ouachita is off for the weekend and returns to action next Tuesday on the road against Harding.
