RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech Golden Suns volleyball team will be suiting up for their first match of the 2020 season on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Arkadelphia against Ouachita Baptist. This will be the first of two meetings for the teams this season. The Golden Suns were recently picked to finish third in the GAC Eastern Division.*
The Golden Suns enter the adapted spring schedule after finishing the 2019 season with a 16-14 overall record and an 8-8 finish in the GAC regular season. Arkansas Tech faced Oklahoma Baptist in the first round of the GAC Championships, falling to the eventual champions in four sets.
TECH TIDBITS
The Golden Suns are bringing back 10 players from the 2019 squad, including All-GAC honorable mention selections
Mackenzie Eford and
Brianna Merkel. Eford finished third on the team last season with 184 kills on a .264 hitting percentage. Merkel finished with 769 assists in her freshman campaign, leading the team with 7.6 assists/set.
The seven additional returners include
Rilie Vote, who finished second on the team with 233 kills last season and
Madison Grantham, who led the team with 474 digs.
Emily Acker,
Addison Masters,
Emily Ragsdale,
Tymber Riley and
Megan Solberg round out the returning Golden Suns.
Six newcomers will be able to make their debut for Arkansas Tech this spring, with four freshmen newcomers and two transfers joining the Golden Suns this season.
Emma Crenshaw (Canyyon, Texas),
Evelyn Fitz (West Columbia, S.C.),
Gracie Palmer (Russellville, Ark.) and
Heather Thomas (Auburndale, Fla.) will look to make their collegiate debut.
Kaitlynn Bradley and
Maggie Schlueter join the Golden Suns from Salt Lake City Community College and the University of Alaska-Anchorage, respectively.
Head coach
Kera Dukic enters her third season at the helm of the Golden Suns.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Ouachita Baptist enters the season picked fourth in the GAC Eastern Division. The Tigers are coming off a 14-14 overall record and a 9-7 GAC record in the 2019 season. Ouachita fell to Northwestern Oklahoma State in the first round of the GAC Championships in four sets last season.
The Tigers bring back 10 returners, including Second-Team All-GAC selection, Lexie Castillow. Coach Allison Frizzell-Kizer added eight freshmen and a transfer to the Tigers roster entering the 2020 season. Frizzell-Kizer enters her third season as head coach at Ouachita.
*NOTE - Due to the impact and health and safety considerations of COVID-19, the GAC made the decision to split its 12-team league into a pair of six-team divisions and play only in-division games in the regular season for the 2020-21 basketball season. With that decision, Arkansas Tech will compete in the Eastern Division alongside Arkansas-Monticello, Harding, Henderson State, Ouachita and Southern Arkansas. The Western Division will be comprised of East Central, Northwestern Oklahoma, Oklahoma Baptist, Southeastern Oklahoma, Southern Nazarene and Southwestern Oklahoma.
