ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech Golden Suns (10-5, 3-0 Great American Conference) held off a fierce comeback from the Henderson State Reddies (7-8, 1-2), winning in five sets (25-15, 25-21, 21-25, 23-25, 17-15).
Rilie Vote led the Golden Suns with a career-high 20 kills, hitting .269 for the match.
Madison Grantham held down the back row, turning in a career-high 25 digs while
Brianna Merkel led the match in assists with 56, another career-high in the match.
"Another really great win in a tough environment," said Coach
Kera Dukic. "The girls had to dig deep and battle tonight! We've been working really hard on out of system play and tonight I felt like I could see an improvement. Great focus and grit!"
NEXT UP
- The Golden Suns will host Ouachita on Tuesday, Oct. 1, in Tucker Coliseum. The match is at 6 p.m. Live stats and live video will be available for the match at arkansastechsports.com.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The teams traded points early in the first set until the Golden Suns took a six-point lead, 14-8.
- Tech led by as many as 11, 22-11 before taking the first set, 25-15.
- The teams went back and forth for the majority of the second set, with neither team leading by more than three until Tech went up 16-13.
- The Reddies got within one 17-16 before the Golden Suns finished the set on a 8-5 run to take the second set 25-21.
- Neither team led by more the two in the third set, until the Reddies took a three-point lead 24-21.
- HSU took the third set 25-21.
- The Reddies took a 4-1 lead to start the fourth set before the Golden Suns tied things at 7-7.
- Tech went on a 4-0 run to take the lead 18-15 after back-to-back blocks.
- HSU clawed back and took the lead 23-22 and the fourth set 25-23.
- The Golden Suns jumped out to a 5-0 to start the fifth set.
- The Reddies used a 6-2 run to take a 14-13 lead.
- Tech came back and took the fifth set 17-15 and the match.
NOTABLES
-FIGHTON-
