RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Down to the final three matches of its regular season, the Arkansas Tech women's volleyball team puts its unblemished Great American Conference record on the line against a dangerous Southern Arkansas side Thursday night at Tucker Coliseum.
The Golden Suns (23-5, 13-0 GAC) have already sealed up the top seed in this month's GAC Championship, and can lock up at least a share of its second straight regular-season conference title with a victory over the Muleriders (16-12, 7-6 GAC) in the 6 p.m. matchup. Tech has won 17 consecutive matches this season, and 25 straight league contests dating back to last season.
SAU gave the Suns one of their toughest matches of the season in both team's GAC opener Sept. 15, taking the defending champs to five sets in Magnolia, Arkansas. The Muleriders took the first and fourth sets of the 19-25, 25-12, 25-19, 20-25, 15-13 thriller to force a decisive fifth set, in which they led much of the way, but kills by Hunter Eshnaur, Kaylee Konsella and an ace by Sarita Stegall netted the Suns the final three points of the match and the victory.
Eshnaur, a freshman, netted 19 kills on .342 hitting to go with 13 digs, while Konsella added 15 kills on .438 hitting, six blocks and six digs, and senior Katie Huff went for 15 kills on .429 hitting and four blocks. Stegall, another freshman, posted her first 50-assist night of her career with 57 helpers to go with 11 digs, and sophomore Madison Nagel led the defense with 21 digs.
On the season, Huff, who managed 11 kills on .529 hitting in Tuesday's sweep of Arkansas-Monticello, is averaging 2.77 kills and hitting .325, while leading the team with 69 total blocks, good enough for 0.79 per set. Eshnaur is the team's top offensive threat, putting up 3.86 kills and 4.46 points per set, as well as a team-high 36 aces. Konsella, a junior, is third on the team with 2.27 kills, and averages 0.55 blocks, while sophomore McCall Wilkins adds 2.10 kills and 0.63 blocks per set.
Stegall is putting up 10.29 assists per set, and is third on the team with both 2.38 digs per set and 20 aces. Nagel leads the way with 5.00 digs per set, and is second with 28 total aces, while senior Kaci Jackson is third with 2.81 digs and has added 23 kills over her last four matches.
The Muleriders, whose five-match winning streak is second in the GAC to Tech's current 17-match mark, earned a five-set victory over Harding Tuesday evening. They are led offensively by Serena LeDuff, who averages 3.78 kills and put up 16 in the first match against the Suns. Shelby Lauterbach and Alli O'Banion put up 2.73 and 2.35 kills per set, respectively. Kaitlyn Reiner and Gillian Newman combine to put up 2.13 kills and 1.41 blocks per set, while Taylor Reaume dishes out 10.16 assists and put up 46 the first time out against Tech. Hannah Rice went for 23 digs against the Suns, and leads the Muleriders at 5.50 per set.
Tech has won 13 of the last 14 meetings against SAU, including the last 10 at Tucker Coliseum without dropping a set.
Live video and statistics from the match will be available at www.arkansastechsports.com.
-FIGHTON-
