RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – The Ouachita volleyball team earned its fourth consecutive Great American Conference victory in as many matches with a four-set win over Arkansas Tech on Tuesday night inside Tucker Coliseum.
The Tigers won both of the first two sets by scores of 25-22 before the Golden Suns took game three 25-18. Ouachita rallied back to win the fourth set 25-16 to remain unbeaten in league play. Overall, the Tigers improve to 13-3. The Suns drop to 7-7 overall and 3-1 in GAC matches.
The first set was back-and-forth until the Tigers won eight of the final 10 rallies. In the second set, Tech jumped out to an 8-2 lead early before the Tigers began chipping away and again caught fire at the end winning 10 of the final 13 rallies to go up 2-0 in the match.
The third set was tight most of the way before the Suns took advantage of three straight Ouachita attack errors to separate at 20-15. Tech later went on a 4-0 run to create a margin too wide for the Tigers to overcome.
The fourth set was all Tigers. Ouachita rattled off six straight points early in the frame and later used a pair of four-point runs to go up 17-6. Tech kept the sideouts frequent the rest of the way, but the Tiger dominance early in the frame led to the match victory.
Kailey Thedford led the Tigers with 16 kills.
Leah Gardner had 11 kills and no errors to end up with a .478 hitting percentage. Gardner also posted a match-high five blocks.
Haley Fairchild had nine kills and also posted a zero in the error column for a .429 percentage.
Courtney Hanson posted her fifth straight double-double and 11th overall of the season with a match-high 39 assists to go along with 12 digs.
Kylie Kisgen was one of five Tigers to reach double-digits in digs, leading the way with 24.
Savannah Whitaker had 14.
Riley Braziel had 13. Hanson and
Peyton Church had 12.
The Tigers are back in action this Thursday, October 2 at home against cross-street rival Henderson State. First serve is set for 6 p.m. at the Sturgis Physical Education Center.
