MAGNOLIA, Arkansas – The Ouachita volleyball team earned its second victory over Southern Arkansas this season and picked up its sixth road win of the year in a four-set triumph over the Muleriders on Thursday night.
Final set scores were 25-16, 19-25, 25-15, and 25-22. The Tigers improve to 13-11 overall and hold on to a tie for second place in the Great American Conference at 9-3 in league action. The team is now 6-3 in road matches this season. SAU drops to 8-17 overall and 2-10 in GAC play.
The Tigers hit .316 as a team in the first set, only committing one error on 38 attempts, resulting in a lopsided set win. SAU kept it close early, but Ouachita never trailed and led by as many as nine on three different occasions.
Ouachita jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set, but the Muleriders began chipping away and later used a 5-0 run to take their first lead at 13-12. SAU never trailed from that point although the Tigers forced three tie scores. Ouachita dropped its hitting percentage down to .035 in the second set after committing nine attack errors.
After exchanging side-outs early in the third set, the Tigers came through with a dominant effort to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Ouachita hit .400 as a team with only one error on 30 swings.
Neither team managed to pull away in the fourth set with most of the set featuring a margin of three or fewer. The Tigers rallied late to go up 24-20, which was the largest lead of the match.
Kailey Thedford collected her 11th kill of the night to seal the match win.
Ella Irons led the way offensively with a match-high 13 kills and finished with nine digs, just shy of recording a double-double.
In addition to her 11 kills, Thedford also had a productive match on defense with a career-high 21 digs.
Kylie Kisgen led the back row with 25 digs.
Delaney Gonzalez added 14.
Sophie Henry contributed on offense and defense with eight kills and four total blocks.
Leah Gardner was also active at the net with nine kills and two total blocks.
Mack Bidwell totaled 44 assists for her sixth match of the season with at least 40.
Ouachita is back in action next Tuesday, October 27 on the road against Arkansas-Monticello.
