HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Lexie Johnston hit .522 with 12 kills, Allie Anderson hit .588 with 11 kills, Amanda Milnick dished out 37 assists and Madison Nagel turned in a team-best nine digs as the No. 8 Arkansas Tech Golden Suns (33-0) rolled to a 3-0 win over Southeastern Oklahoma (13-20) in the opening round of the 2017 Great American Conference volleyball championship.
 
UP NEXT

• The Golden Suns play the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between fourth-seeded Northwestern Oklahoma and fifth-seeded Southern Nazarene at 6 p.m. Friday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Golden Suns won by set scores of 25-21, 25-18, and 25-18.
• In the opening set, the two teams went back-and-forth through the opening points with Tech unable to gather more than a two-point lead. However, after SE narrowed its deficit to 13-11, Tech used a 5-0 run to open up an 18-11 advantage.
• SE was able to pull to within three (24-21) in the closing points of the set, but a kill from Johnston sealed the opening set win.
• Tech jumped ahead 9-4 in set number two and was able to hold the Savage Storm at arm's length down the stretch.
• After the Savage Storm used a 3-0 run to pull to within one at the 8-7 mark, the Golden Suns used an 8-1 run to stretch out the advantage.
• With Tech holding a 24-15 lead, Southeastern held on match point for three points before Anderson's 11^th kill of the match ended the final set.

NOTABLES

• Tech outhit SE .351 to .155 for the match. The Golden Suns hit a match high .448 in the second set, and held SE to a match-low .032 in the third set.
• Both teams were solid in serve receive, with Tech sitting at .964 and SE at .955.
• The Golden Suns had ten team blocks, led by Greer Rogers' six.
• There were eight ties and four lead changes in the match.  

COACH BAYER SAYS

• On the key areas in the win – "It was a good first round game for us. We played focused and in control. I knew we had to pass in serve-receive in order to run our offense, and we did that well. I was pleased with our offensive efficiency."
• On players stepping up – "Lexie and Allie stepped up and put balls away when we needed them. Amanda did a good job with her set selection."
• On the team's blocking performance – "I was extremely pleased with our blocking. We haven't had a match in a while where our blocking dominated. Tonight it was a big factor in stopping Southwestern Oklahoma."