RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — After kicking off the final third of its Great American Conference season with a sweep of Henderson State, the Arkansas Tech women's volleyball team makes its next-to-last road trip of the regular season with a bus ride to face Arkansas-Monticello Tuesday evening.
The Golden Suns (22-5, 12-0 GAC), who already hold a 3-1 victory over the Cotton Blossoms (9-15, 1-11 GAC) this season, have won their last 16 matches this season, including a perfect start to their GAC schedule, which runs their conference winning streak to 24 consecutive matches dating back to last season. Tuesday's match is a 6 p.m. start from UAM's Steelman Field House.
In the two sides' first meeting of the season on Oct. 2, the Golden Suns picked up a 25-18, 25-11, 20-25, 25-20 victory, with freshman Hunter Eshnaur leading the way with 13 kills, 11 digs, six aces and two blocks. Fellow freshman Sarita Stegall added 41 assists — one of 10 times she's averaged at least 10 assists per set against a conference opponent this season — and chipped in with eight digs, two aces and a pair of kills.
Sophomores Haley Owen and McCall Wilkins added 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while Wilkins led the way with three blocks. Sophomore Madison Nagel put up 14 digs, and senior Kaci Jackson added 10, as Tech earned its 14th straight victory over the instate rival and the 20th win overall in 24 matches all-time against UAM.
For the season, Eshnaur, who picked up her second GAC Offensive Player of the Week award Monday, leads the team with 3.85 kills and 4.46 points per set, while also leading the way with 36 aces. Stegall, who brought home her fifth GAC Setter of the Week honor in nine chances this season after last week's effort, averages 10.24 assists and 2.43 digs per set, and chips in with 0.68 kills. Senior Katie Huff puts up 2.74 kills on a .318 hitting percentage and 0.80 blocks per set, teams up in the middle with Wilkins, who averages 2.09 kills and 0.64 blocks per set. Nagel's 5.00 digs per set is top on the team, ahead of Jackson's 2.84.
The Cotton Blossoms are led offensively by Carolina Gasparini, who puts up 2.88 kills, 0.38 aces and 2.49 digs per set. Sydni Schulz is also over the two-kill plateau at 2.54 per set, and is second on the team with 2.97 digs, and Alissya Theis leads with 7.52 assists per set. Kya Standford puts up 1.81 kills and leads the team with 0.82 blocks, while Aubrey Harrison and Kedra Johnson combine for better than three kills and a block per set. Kaila Kikugawa, who put up 20 digs against the Golden Suns in the first matchup, averages 3.85 to lead the team.
Live video, audio and statistics from the match will be available at www.arkansastechsports.com.
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