RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech Volleyball team will play two matches against East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma this weekend on Friday, October 22 and Saturday, October 23.
The Golden Suns currently sit at 14-4 overall for the season with an 8-1 record in conference play. In-home matches this season, Arkansas Tech is a perfect 5-0.
Tech's first opponent of the weekend will be East Central. Currently, Tech and East Central are tied for the top spot in the GAC. Last season, East Central went 5-7 overall with a 4-6 conference record. The 2020 season was shortened due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Tigers looked to have improved quite a bit from last season with a 12-9 record overall and an 8-1 record against conference opponents. East Centrals last match was a 3-0 sweep at home against Ouachita Baptist.
Saturday's match will be against Southeastern Oklahoma. During the 2020 season, Southeastern went 2-9 overall and 2-8 in conference play. This season, the Savage Storm are 7-11 overall and 4-5 in GAC matches. Before playing Tech on Saturday, Southeastern will play against Harding in Searcy on Friday night.
Look for the Golden Sun offense to be led by Emily Ragsdale, Haylee Paladini and Tymber Riley. The three seniors have a combined 460 kills on the season. Riley has the highest number of total kills on the team inching closer to 200 kills on the season with 198 off of 3.19 kills per set.
Pacing the Tech offense will be junior setter Brianna Merkel who has 458 assists off of 7.27 assists per set on the season.
Leading the dig effort by the Golden Suns will be senior libero Madison Grantham. Grantham has 259 total digs on the season with an average of 4.05 digs per set. Riley has also contributed on the defensive end with 144 total digs.
The Golden Suns are third in the GAC in blocks with 136 total and averaging 2.12 per set. Individually, the blocking leader for Tech is Ragsdale with 50 on the season. Junior outside hitter Kaitlyn Bradley has been just as efficient as Ragsdale with 47 total blocks.
The first match against East Central will be at 6 p.m. on Friday, October 22 in Tucker Coliseum. Friday's match is also alumni night. Saturday's match against Southeastern Oklahoma will begin at noon in Tucker.
