Box Score (html)
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The top team in the Great American Conference standings, Arkansas Tech, ended SWOSU Volleyball's four-game winning streak on Friday night, defeating the Bulldogs in four sets at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville.
The Golden Suns were in control from the outset, breaking a 2-2 tie early in the first set and charging ahead 10-4 before SWOSU called a timeout. ATU kept the Dawgs at arm's length the rest of the set, never letting SWOSU get within five as they pulled ahead and won the opening set 25-14.
Arkansas Tech scored the first three points of the second set and used the early advantage to again keep SWOSU just out of reach. The Bulldogs got within one point at 4-3 but were unable to tie the set as Tech went ahead 2-0 with a 25-21 win in the second set.
After again starting in a 3-0 hole to open the third set, SWOSU found their rhythm in the middle of the set. SWOSU overcame an early 9-4 deficit and tied the set at 13-13 to force an ATU timeout before going on top 15-13 after a service ace from
Carly Zak.
Kelsi Schmidtberger came alive offensively for the Bulldogs with seven kills in the third, including set point, as the Bulldogs finished with 14 kills and no hitting errors in the set for a .560 hitting percentage in the set.
SWOSU showed their resolve again in the fourth set after finding themselves in a 15-4 hole early in the set. Six kills from Zak and three from Schmidtberger helped SWOSU come all the way back to tie the set at 18-18, but it was all ATU down the stretch as the Golden Suns finished off the set with seven of the final nine points for the 25-20 win.
Schmidtberger had her best offensive outing as a Bulldog, finishing with 14 kills and a .545 hitting percentage with just two hitting errors. She also added a team-high four blocks as the Bulldogs had six as a team. Zak came alive in the final two sets to finish with another double-double of 13 kills and 11 digs while
Jill Green also had nine kills.
Kayla Hebert was near double-double numbers as well with 39 assists and nine digs, while
Kaila Lancaster had a team-best 16 digs for the match. SWOSU had just two service aces for the match and they were again haunted by service errors with 10 on Friday night.
The defeat snaps a four-game winning streak by the Bulldogs and drops SWOSU to 11-8 on the year and 5-3 in Great American Conference play heading into the final game of their road trip on Saturday afternoon at Harding. First serve from Rhodes Field House in Searcy, Arkansas will be tomorrow at 2:00 pm.
