RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech Volleyball team picks up a sweep (25-18, 25-17, 25-17) at home against SAU. The Golden Suns are 8-0 at home with a 17-5 overall record and a conference record of 11-1. Arkansas Tech swept Southern Arkansas in both matches played between the two teams this season.
Leading the offense was senior outside hitter Tymber Riley with 12 kills at an excellent .550 clip. Riley also served up 3 aces on the night. Senior middle blocker Emily Ragsdale followed with 6 kills and an ace, while senior right-side hitter Haylee Paladini had 5 kills. The offense was paced well by both junior setter Brianna Merkel and sophomore setter Gracie Palmer. Merkel led the match in assists with 15, while Palmer picked up 10.Â
Senior libero Madison Grantham led the match in digs for the defense with 12. Grantham also led the team in aces with 4 in the match. Freshman libero Jamie Myrick poured in 6 digs to help on the defensive end. Leading the match in blocks was junior outside hitter Kaitlynn Bradley with 1 solo and 2 assisted. Merkel came up with 2 solo blocks, Paladini had 2 assisted blocks and Ragsdale got one of each to give the front line trio 2 blocks each.
As a team, the Golden Suns had 33 total kills compared to SAU's 31. Tech also controlled the front of the net with 10 total blocks, with SAU blocking 4. The Golden Suns had an impressive night serving the ball putting up an impressive 10 aces across just 3 sets.Â
Arkansas Tech leads the GAC in aces with 73 total across 39 sets while averaging 1.87 per set. The Golden Suns are third in the conference in hitting percentage with a .218 clip. Following tonight's match, Arkansas Tech is now tied with Harding for second in the conference for kills each with 524 total across 39 putting them at 13.44 kills per set. Finally, the Golden Suns are third in the GAC for blocks averaging 2.21 per set.
The Golden Suns will travel to Arkadelphia, Ark. to take on Henderson State for their next match on Tuesday, November 2. The match is set for a 6:30 p.m. start.
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