ARKADELPHIA – The Ouachita volleyball team won its fifth straight match on Friday night, defeating Southeastern Oklahoma State in four sets at home.
Final set scores were 25-18, 22-25, 25-17, and 25-23. The Tigers improve to 11-10 overall and 7-2 in the Great American Conference, holding on to the No. 2 spot in the league standings.
Southeastern made the first set interesting late, pulling to within three at 21-18, but Ouachita powered through for four straight points, including a pair of kills from
Kailey Thedford at the end.
The Savage Storm dominated the middle part of the second set, at one point winning nine of 11 rallies to go up 14-12. Ouachita pulled to within one three times the rest of the way, but Southeastern held on to even the match at one set each.
The Tigers went up 2-1 in the match with a strong performance in the third set, highlighted by a 4-0 run to go up 20-13 that featured a pair of kills from
Sophie Henry.
Ouachita had to play from behind in the fourth set, and turned the game around after trailing 18-12. The Tigers won six straight to even up the set and closed the frame on a 4-0 run including two kills from
Leah Gardner and one from
Ella Irons for the match clincher.
Ouachita's middles highlighted the victory with Henry leading the way with 16 kills and a .448 hitting percentage, while Gardner added 14 kills and a .387 percentage.
Mack Bidwell tied her career-high with 49 assists in the win.
Kylie Kisgen led the back row with 22 digs for her fourth match of the season with at least 20.
Delaney Gonzalez also reached double digits in digs with 13.
The Tigers look to carry their momentum into next week's road trip to take on Southern Nazarene and league-leading Oklahoma Baptist.
