TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Volleyball action will fill Tucker Coliseum all day Friday and Saturday, as Arkansas Tech hosts the Arkansas Tech Tournament.

The Golden Suns (2-2) will welcome Ouachita Baptist, Midwestern State, Newman and Missouri Southern for the round-robin event, which will feature five matches each day, beginning at 11 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. Saturday.

"This is a great chance for our fans to see the 2015 team," coach Kristy Bayer said. "We have assessed what we need to work on after the first tournament, and we're looking forward to putting that in action on Friday."

As part of the tournament, as well as Tech Athletics' "Fight On Against Childhood Hunger" initiative, the Golden Suns are asking fans attending the matches to bring a box of cereal and help the Suns reach their goal of 50 boxes of cereal to be given to local youth.

Tech kicks off the festivities Friday morning at 11 against Midwestern State, then faces Newman at 5 p.m. before coming back Saturday for a match against Missouri Southern at 11 a.m. and a nonconference tilt against Ouachita Baptist at 5 p.m.

The Golden Suns split their first four matches of the season last weekend at the Hilton Garden Inn Classic at Texas Woman's University, getting a Great American Conference Defensive Player of the Week effort out of Madison Nagel. The sophomore turned in 77 digs over the four matches, good for 5.92 per set, and added six aces.

Freshman Hunter Eshnaur led the squad with 46 kills (3.54 per set), while adding six blocks, and senior Katie Huff added 2.54 kills per set and 14 total blocks, with her 1.08 blocks per set leading the GAC in the early going. Alyssa Kool (6.69) and Sarita Stegall (5.69) combined for 161 assists over the four matches, helping the Suns to a league-best 14.38 assists per set.

Ouachita (3-1) started its season 3-0 before falling to host Alabama-Huntsville at a season-opening tournament. The Tigers lead the GAC in hitting percentage with a .251 clip, and fall in right behind Tech in assists (12.23), kills (13.00) and blocks (1.46) per set. Four different players are hitting better than .300 and have 30 or more kills, with Cadyn Laing leading with a .435 hitting percentage and Abby Pickett with 41 kills. Stormi Leonard leads the conference with 10.91 assists per set.

Midwestern State (3-3), which took the Golden Suns to five sets at an early-season tournament last year, went 1-3 at Colorado Mines' Oredigger Volleyball Classic last weekend, but followed that up with victories over Southwestern Oklahoma and Texas Wesleyan. Meghan Bettis leads the Mustangs with 2.86 kills per set, while Kiley Beaver adds 2.18 kills per set while hitting .304. Hayden Blair dishes out 8.09 assists, while Addison Semer adds 0.82 blocks per set.

Newman (2-3) earned one win at the Angelo State Invitational last weekend. The Jets are led by Ashley Gonzalez, whose .322 hitting percentage, 3.35 kills and 0.65 blocks per set all lead the team. Alexus Litts posts 9.28 assists per set, while Anna Burton adds 5.17 digs.

Missouri Southern (0-4) lost four matches at the Washburn Invitational to start the season. The Lions feature setter Abby Finder, who averages 8.38 assists per set, as well as Bridgette Jaeger, who leads the team with 2.79 kills per set. Callie Whetstone adds 1.79 kills per set with a .254 hitting percentage while adding a team-high six aces.

It will be the first tournament hosted by Tech since the 2012 season, and it will be followed up by another in the GAC/MIAA Crossover next weekend.

"We're excited to be hosting this weekend," Bayer said. "We love playing in front of our fans."

All 10 matches over the two days will feature live statistics and video, available at www.arkansastechsports.com.