RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Backed by big nights from Kaylee Konsella and Kaci Jackson, the Arkansas Tech women's volleyball team turned away Henderson State in a 3-0 sweep in a Great American Conference match Thursday evening at Tucker Coliseum.
The Golden Suns (22-5, 12-0 GAC) pushed their winning streak to 16 matches overall with the 25-20, 25-15, 25-16 victory, and extended a GAC streak to 24 consecutive matches dating back to last season. Tech also raised $862 through auctioning off their game-worn jerseys, with the proceeds going to River Valley Food 4 Kids through Tech's "Fight On" Against Childhood Hunger Initiative."
"It was a successful night for two reasons," coach Kristy Bayer said. "First, we raised almost $900 for River Valley Food 4 Kids, and secondly, we were able to get a 3-0 win over Henderson to move our record to 12-0. We're taking the final third of our schedule in stride, with the rest of the Arkansas schools left to go. Now there's one down, four to go."
Konsella turned in 10 kills on .600 hitting to pace the Golden Suns offensively, and was in on all three blocks the team posted on the night. It's the junior's sixth double-digit kill effort of the season, and 15 was the fewest amount of attempts to get her there. A senior, Jackson posted her best offensive night of the season with nine kills on .444 hitting, and added one of her top efforts defensively with 15 digs.
The guests provided a stiff challenge in the first set, tying things up at 5-5 and charging back after three straight kills made it 9-5 in favor of Tech. The closest the Reddies (4-21, 2-10 GAC) got was a 16-14 deficit after three straight points, but kills from Konsella, McCall Wilkins and Katie Huff, mixed with an ace out of Hunter Eshnaur ballooned the hosts' lead to 24-16. Henderson managed to get back within four before a Sarita Stegall kills ended the set. Jackson put up eight of her digs in that first game, while Huff and Konsella each managed four kills.
The spread wasn't as friendly to Henderson in the second set, which saw Tech hit .467 as a team while holding HSU to .100. After the Reddies pulled into a 4-4 tie, Konsella put up three kills, and shared a block with Wilkins, who had a kill of her on, to push Tech into a lead it would hold for good at 10-6. The four-point lead grew to five by 15-10, but Tech took off to score 10 of the final 15 points in the set, with Wilkins and Jackson each knocking home two kills, and Konsella adding a kill and two blocks in the stretch.
The third set was much of the same for the Suns, with defense taking over this time. Sophomore Madison Nagel posted seven of her team-high 17 digs in the final set, while Colleen Wooten added four and Jackson five more as the team put up 22. Henderson did manage to take a lead at 2-1, but three kills and two errors by the Reddies quickly made it 6-2. The guests tied things back up at 7-all and 9-all, and got as close as 12-11 a few points later, but a 6-1 run started to help the Suns pull away. Kills from Eshnaur, Huff, Konsella and Jackson, with an ace by Nagel, jump-started that run, which made it 18-12, and Henderson errors around another Jackson kill pushed it to 23-14. Mariah King and Eshnaur would end the match with a pair of kills.
Stegall posted 38 assists and eight digs for the match, while Wilkins and Huff each put up seven kills in the middle.
"I was really happy with the way Kaylee played tonight," Bayer said. "She's been needing a breakthrough match, and tonight kind of seemed like it might have been one.
"Kaci played six rotations for us today. She did a really great job of finding shots and making really good choices. It's great to have her on the court for six rotations, because she's a great serve-receive passer, and defensively she can pick up a lot of balls for us."
The Golden Suns finish out their regular season with four GAC matches over the next two week, heading to Arkansas-Monticello Tuesday before returning to Tucker Coliseum to face Southern Arkansas Thursday.
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