RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – On the opening night of Great American Conference play, Arkansas Tech volleyball earned a 3-0 sweep of the Southern Arkansas Lady Muleriders on Tuesday. The home-opening win (25-17, 26-4, 25-18) gives the Golden Suns their third consecutive win in straight sets.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Arkansas Tech (6-3, 1-0 GAC) opened the first set with a 4-0 run and eventually jumped out to its largest lead of 13 on a 10-2 run to go ahead, 20-7.
• After four straight points from Southern Arkansas (3-6, 0-1 GAC), the Golden Suns finally took the set, 25-17, on an error by the Lady Muleriders.
• In the second set, Southern Arkansas took the first lead, and an 8-1 run gave the Lady Muleriders a 13-6 advantage.
• Down 17-9, the Golden Suns climbed back, cutting the deficit to two after six consecutive points.
• Arkansas Tech tied the set at 19 on an attack error by SAU, and the Golden Suns eventually took the lead after a kill by Amanda Milnick. With a 24-23 lead, Tech recorded three of the final four points to take a 2-0 lead in the match.
• Tech's best set offensively came in the final game, as the Golden Suns hit .314 on their way to a commanding 25-18 win to claim the match.

NOTABLES

• The straight-set victory over the Lady Muleriders gives the Golden Suns nine consecutive set-wins over the past three matches.
• The Golden Suns held SAU to hit -.010, the first time Tech has limited its opponents to a negative attack percentage since Sept. 5, 2014, when the Golden Suns held Molloy to -.011 in a 3-0 win.
• Hunter Eshnaur led all players with 12 kills, her 11^th consecutive match with at least 10 kills, dating back to last season.
• Lauren Rodemers added nine kills while posting an attack percentage of .368.
• Sarah Rosinke and Milnick finished with 17 assists and 10 assists, respectively.
• Madison Nagel recorded a team-high 11 digs, including six in the first set. Nagel has finished with at least 10 digs in eight of nine matches this season.

COACH BAYER SAYS

• On the victory - "I thought we came out great in the first set. In the second set, we were challenged a little bit, but we were down, 10-18, and we fought back and won. That just shows what heart this team has."
• On the defense - "Even though we may not have had a lot of blocks for kills, we were definitely stopping the ball at the net. I think our blocking presence is so much better than in the past. Defensively we were moving very, very well."
• On the home-opener - "We had a great crowd here for our home opener. I do want to thank all the students and community fans for coming out and supporting us."

NEXT UP

• The Golden Suns return to action on Friday, Sept. 16, as the team travels to Warrensburg, Mo. for the Peggy Martin Challenge. Tech is scheduled to take on Northwest Missouri at 3 p.m. on Friday, followed by a 7 p.m. match against Central Missouri. The final match of the tournament for Arkansas Tech will be on Saturday at 11 a.m., as the Golden Suns battle Newman.
• Tickets, live stats and video are available for all three matches at www.arkansastechsports.com.