RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Carrying an unbeaten record through its first nine Great American Conference matches, and all the momentum that comes with such a run, the Arkansas Tech women's volleyball team heads into its toughest two-day stretch of its GAC season Thursday and Friday.

The Golden Suns (17-5, 9-0 GAC) hit the road for a pair of matches against the two teams directly behind them in the league standings, traveling to face Oklahoma Baptist (13-10, 8-1 GAC) at 7 p.m. Thursday before a 3 p.m. matchup Friday at Southern Nazarene (11-12, 7-2 GAC).

"We have probably the biggest week of the year coming up with matches against No. 2 and No. 3 in the conference," coach Kristy Bayer said. "It's all about our preparation before the match. We've been doing scouting reports and looking over video. We just need to have a strong practice and a good week before facing these two teams."

Tech — which is riding not only the current nine-match league winning streak, but also an 11-match run overall this year and a 21-match GAC winning streak that dates back to the middle of last season—is led on the attack by freshman Hunter Eshnaur, who is first in the GAC in points (4.47 per set) and second in kills (3.88). Those numbers increase to 4.06 kills per set on a .271 hitting percentage in conference matches.

Katie Huff is seventh in the league with a .295 hitting percentage, adding 2.70 kills and 0.84 blocks. In conference play, the senior is hitting .345 and averaging 2.94 kills. Freshman Sarita Stegall is doing her best work in GAC matches, leading the conference with 12.00 assists per set in conference play, while also adding nine aces in those nine matches.

Sophomore Madison Nagel leads the Suns and is fifth in the GAC with 4.97 digs, and ninth with 0.34 aces per set. Junior Kaylee Konsella is averaging 2.30 kills per set on .240 hitting overall, and has posted four double-digit kill totals this season, while sophomore McCall Wilkins adds 2.06 kills on .240 hitting and 0.62 blocks per set, numbers that reach 2.00, .261 and 0.72 in league play.

The Suns are first in the GAC in both assists per set, with 12.97, and kills per set, posting 13.95, numbers that put them 15th and 11th, respectively, in the nation.

Oklahoma Baptist, which fell 3-1 at home to Ouachita Baptist two weeks ago, has faced a tough schedule, with half of their 10 losses coming to teams either ranked or receiving votes in the national poll. The Bison are led defensively by Kaitlyn Lucy, whose 6.19 digs per set is fourth in the country and only go up to 6.68 in league play.

Cat Roth puts up 2.15 kills on .260 hitting and adds 0.64 blocks, while Kynnedy Myers dishes out 8.65 assists and adds 1.24 assists on .249 hitting. Nicole Fleitman is seventh in the GAC with 0.79 blocks per set, and is hitting .350 with 1.76 kills per set in league play.

It will be the first meeting between Golden Suns and the Bison, who have won eight of their last 11 and three straight in the GAC.

Following less than 20 hours after wrapping up in Shawnee, Oklahoma, Tech will face a familiar foe Southern Nazarene, which holds a 7-4 advantage in the all-time series after the two split a pair of five-set matches last season. The Crimson Storm handed the Suns their only conference loss of the season with a 3-2 win at Tucker Coliseum before Tech returned the favor in dramatic fashion in the conference tournament final, winning the last two sets and storming back from an 11-4 deficit in the final set to do so.

This season, the Storm are led by McKenna Qualls, who leads the team with 2.77 kills and 0.50 aces per set, which is 29th in the nation. McKayla Benner adds 2.49 kills and is second in the GAC with 0.93 blocks per set, and she's hitting .310 with 3.26 kills and 1.07 blocks in conference play. Elyse Berlin adds 9.48 assists, and Abbey Bell is second in the league with 5.55 digs per set.

"Unfortunately, we have to play them back-to-back," Bayer said. "So it does leave little preparation for the second match, but we've been doing a lot of preplanning before we leave in terms of scouting.

"Our girls are ready to go, though. We're excited about it and we're up for the challenge."

-FIGHTON-