Box Score (html)
MONTICELLO, Ark. – Carly Zak put down 21 kills on Friday night, becoming the first player in SWOSU history to reach the 1,400-career kill plateau, but it wasn't enough to help her team to a victory as the Bulldogs fell to Arkansas-Monticello 3-1 (14-25, 24-26, 25-20, 21-25) at Steelman Fieldhouse.
SWOSU started extremely slowly, falling behind from the outset and hitting .029 in the first set as UAM took the early lead with a 25-14 set victory. The second set was played much closer, with several ties down the stretch before UAM broke a 24-all tie with the final two points to end the set. The Bulldogs came alive in the third set, building an 8-1 lead and never letting UAM get within three points as they kept the match alive with a 25-20 win.
The fourth set was again back-and-forth in the early going with ten ties, the last at 19-all after a kill from
Kodee Avery. From that point on, however, the Blossoms took control with five straight points that got them to match point and enabled them to hold off a pair of points from the Bulldogs and end the match on a hitting error from SWOSU's
Jill Green.
Carly Zak was the primary source of offense for the Bulldogs with 21 kills – two off her season high – while hitting .308 and she ended with a double-double by recording 15 digs on defense.
Jill Green added eight kills, but did so in a negative hitting performance with nine attack errors in the match. SWOSU hit .142 for the match with 28 errors while UAM hit .205 and committed 17 errors.
Defensively, SWOSU had an advantage in digs of 85-to-78, led by
Kaitlyn Dillon with 27 and Zak with 15.
Kayla Hebert had a double-double with 27 assists and 10 digs and
Lindsey McCauley also added 10 digs. At the net, SWOSU's defense managed just two blocks while UAM sent back seven of the Bulldogs attempts for points.
SWOSU (4-12, 2-4 GAC) now falls two games under .500 in conference play heading into a rematch of the 2015 GAC Tournament Championship match against Southern Arkansas. First serve in that match will be at 1:00 pm tomorrow afternoon in Magnolia.
