RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Sophomore Mariah King picked up 13 kills on .524 hitting and six blocks as the Arkansas Tech women's volleyball team earned 3-0 sweeps over Central Baptist and Lyon College Tuesday in a nonconference tri-match at Tucker Coliseum.
King, who played in all six sets for the Golden Suns (17-5), hit .667 with seven kills and three aces in the afternoon's 25-14, 25-13, 25-19 victory over Central Baptist (6-24), and added six more kills on .417 hitting in the 25-19, 25-11, 25-17 victory over Lyon (13-13) in the nightcap. Freshman Kimberly Huff added three kills and a block against CBC and four kills on .571 hitting in just one set against Lyon.
In the opener against the Mustangs, Tech hit .500 in the first set, jumping out to leads of 4-0, 11-4 and 14-5, and scored nine out of 10 points to make it 24-8. CBC pushed to make it 24-14, but Tech scored the next point to end the comeback attempt. The second set saw a 6-0 start on the strength of two aces from King and a kill and a block from Haley Owen. The Mustangs charged back to momentarily take the lead at 9-8, before another 6-0 run, this time with a solo block from King and a double from her and Rachel Hampton, pushed Tech back into the lead. A 9-point run, started with a kill from Kaci Jackson and ending with eight straight service points from the senior, closed the set.
The third set held tighter, tied as late as 15-15 before two kills from Owen and a block by Huff and Owen helped push the Tech lead to 20-16. The Mustangs got as close as 24-19, but a Sara Stoval kill ended the match. Owen totaled 11 kills in the match and added three blocks, while Alyssa Kool dished out 22 assists and chipped in with five digs and three aces. Jackson picked up seven digs and four aces, while Madison Nagel led with 11 digs.
"I thought we were a little slow and sluggish in the Central Baptist game," coach Kristy Bayer said. "But there were still times we played really well, and there were times we saw good individual performances. Overall as a team, I didn't think we really hit that strike like I thought we would, but there were definitely some highlights.
"I thought Mariah King played really well in both matches today. She's not got a whole lot of playing time early in, but she kind of stepped in today and did a really good job. She looked comfortable and confident on the court, so I was really pleased with her."
The Suns went back-and-forth with the Scots in the first set of the final match before a 6-0 run, bolstered by two Hunter Eshnaur kills and three straight aces from Sarita Stegall, made it 15-8. The guests wouldn't get closer than five points the rest of the set to fall into an early hole. King and Eshnaur each chipped in with two kills to push Tech out to a quick 7-2 lead in the second set, and after the Scots had pulled it to within 13-10, the Suns went on another run. This time, two kills each from Eshnaur and Kaylee Konsella, and a block by King and Konsella, helped run off 11 consecutive points for the hosts, and one final kill from Konsella quickly put Tech up 2-0 in the match.
Eshnaur and Huff combined for 11 of Tech's 16 kills in the third set. Two from each helped boost the Suns out to an 8-2 advantage, and one each around a Stovall kill made it 11-5. The Scots got as close as one point back at both 13-12 and 14-13, but Tech netted nine of the final 13 points to put them away. Eshnaur pounded home 17 kills against just two errors for a .556 hitting percentage in the match, while Stegall pitched in with 34 assists, four aces, six digs and three kills. Nagel added 14 more digs and two aces, while the team hit above .300 in each set and .341 for the match.
"I thought we picked it up against Lyon," Bayer said. "The energy was a little better, the cohesiveness was a little better. Offensively, we played pretty well. We were putting up good numbers. Hunter Eshnaur, they had a hard time stopping her. She had a really, really good night, just a really dominant performance."
The pair of victories runs the Tech winning streak to 11 matches in a row. That streak will meet a tough test this week, as the Golden Suns travel to Oklahoma to face the second- and third-place teams in the Great American Conference, beginning Thursday with Oklahoma Baptist and continuing Friday at Southern Nazarene.
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