HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — Katie Huff had a team-best 14 kills and hit .414, Kaylee Konsella added 11 kills on a .333 hitting percentage as the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns volleyball team (26-6) held off Southeastern Oklahoma (7-23) 3-1 in the opening round of the Great American Conference championship tournament.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Golden Suns won the opening set 26-24, before Southeastern Oklahoma rallied to take a 25-18 win in the second set. After a dominant performance in a 25-14 win in the third set, Tech closed out the match with a 25-21 win in the fourth set.
• In the opening set, the Golden Suns took a 24-21 advantage before Southeastern Oklahoma reeled off three consecutive points to tie the set at 24-24 – the first time that the Golden Suns did not lead in the first set since 0-0.
• Tech closed the opening set on a kill by Sarita Stegall.
• In the second set, the Savage Storm broke a 3-3 tie with four straight points to go up 7-3 and eventually 10-4.
•  Down 10-4, the Golden Suns took the lead after scoring seven straight points.
• SOSU took six of the next seven points to go up 17-12, and held on to win the second set 25-18.
• Tech jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the third set before the Savage Storm were able to tie the match at 8-8.
• Tech outscored SE 14-4 to jump ahead 22-12 and won the set 25-14.
• The final set saw the Golden Suns take a 6-3 lead, before SE came back to tie the set at 8-8.
• The two teams battled back and forth with neither team claiming a large advantage until the Golden Suns broke an 18-18 tie with a 5-0 run to go up 23-18.
• After Southeastern closed the set to 23-21, the Golden Suns finished the match with a pair of attack errors by the Savage Storm.

NOTABLES

• Tech outhit Southeastern .169 to .168 for the match.
• Huff was joined by Koneslla and Hunter Eshnaur (13 kills) in double figures during the match.
• Sarita Stegall dished out 39 assists.
• Kaci Jackson led the Golden Suns with 11 digs.
• Tech outhit SE .250 to -.024 in the second set.

COACH BAYER SAYS

• On the game – "It wasn't really the way we wanted to make a statement at the conference tournament, but the bottom line is that we got the win, that was what we set out to do, and now we need to forget about how we got that win and move on. If we dwell on how we played in the first round we are going to set ourselves up for failure.
• On the tournament field moving forward– "Obviously we split with Harding this year. Southern Arkansas played us really tough at their place and tough at our place. Either opponent doesn't matter. No matter what, from here on out, it's going to be tough."

WHO'S NEXT

• The Golden Suns face the winner of tonight's Harding/Southern Arkansas matchup in a 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday.