ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech volleyball team picked up their second win in five days in the city of Arkadelphia, this time coming away with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-10) sweep over Henderson State on Tuesday night in the Duke Wells Center.

Hunter Eshnaur paced the Golden Suns with 11 kills on a .276 attack percentage and recorded three service aces while Sarita Stegall picked up her seventh double-double in eight matches, tallying 32 assists and 10 digs. The Golden Suns (10-5, 4-0 GAC) won their fourth consecutive match and have won 10 straight sets. While Henderson State (1-15, 0-4 GAC) struggled coming into the match, the Reddies gave Arkansas Tech a challenge in the first set.

"HSU played us really well tonight," said Golden Suns head coach Kristy Bayer. "We didn't come out with a lot of offense tonight. It slowly improved as the match went on."

The Golden Suns had to overcome a slow start in the first set. After falling behind 7-4, ATU rallied back with a 4-0 run capped off on a kill by Katie Huff to take an 8-7 lead. Both teams battled back-and-forth for the remainder of the set, with neither team leading by more than three. With the set tied at 23-23, McCall Wilkins put a strong kill within the back line and the Golden Suns sealed the set on an attack error to come away with the 25-23 win in the first set.

While the first set was tightly contested from beginning to end, ATU wouldn't feel so much pressure in the second due to a big run. With a 10-8 lead, the Golden Suns broke the lead wide open with a 6-0 run on a pair of kills by Eshnaur and a stingy defense that forced four Henderson State attack errors. However, the Reddies didn't go down without a fight. HSU put together an 11-3 run of their own to cut the deficit to 22-19. The Golden Suns answered right back, closing the set strong by scoring three of the last four points on a rally kill by Wilkins and Kaylee Konsella tapped the game winner over the Henderson State blockers to give ATU the 25-20 win in the set.

"On the defensive end, we were playing sound," said Bayer. "We looked good in and out of system, but we struggled to find the kill tonight."

While the Reddies gave the Golden Suns a battle in the first two sets, Arkansas Tech put the third set away early on. The Suns jumped out to a 7-1 lead, sparked by a pair of kills by Eshnaur and finished off by a kill by Wilkins. Moments later, ATU stretched the lead even farther as three Eshnaur service aces mixed in with two Konsella kills sparked a 5-0 run and gave the Golden Suns a 14-3 lead.

Arkansas Tech held no less than a 10 point lead throughout the rest of the set and ended the match on a 5-0 run to come away with a 25-10 third set victory for the sweep. While the Suns offense struggled through the first two sets, the offense thrived in the third. ATU tallied 15 kills on a .429 attack percentage in the third set, with Konsella recording six of her nine kills in the set and Eshnaur added five more for good measure. The Suns in the previous two sets hit just .043 in the first set and .222 in the second.

"Anytime we can get a 3-0 road win in the GAC, we will take it," added Bayer. "We need to look to get better in practice."

While the offense struggled for the match, ATU got some support from their two middle blockers. Katie Huff added nine kills on a .350 attack percentage and added three blocks while Wilkins was effective with seven kills on a .333 attack percentage and two blocks. Madison Nagel controlled the backcourt, leading the match with 13 digs.

After playing the last two matches in Arkadelphia, the Golden Suns will return home for a Friday match against Arkansas-Monticello at 5 p.m. in Tucker Coliseum.