RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech Volleyball team gets a 3-0 sweep against Ouachita Baptist in their final game of the regular season. The Golden Suns end the regular season 19-7 overall with a stellar 13-3 record in conference play.
Tech also finished the regular season undefeated at home with a 9-0 record. The team finished 5-5 among road games and 5-2 when playing matches at a neutral site.
Leading the offensive attack for the Golden Suns in her final regular season match was senior outside hitter Tymber Riley with a team leading 11 kills. Riley also had 2 aces in the match. Following Riley was senior outside hitter Addison Masters with 7 kills off of 16 total attempts and no errors giving her a solid .438 hitting percentage against Ouachita. Senior right-side hitter Haylee Paladini and junior outside hitter Kaitlynn Bradley poured in 6 kills each. Bradley ended the match with a .500 hitting percentage and Paladini earned an ace.
Pacing the offense for Arkansas Tech was junior setter Brianna Merkel with 25 assists on the night. Merkel also added 4 kills and 2 service aces.
Leading the dig effort on defense in her final regular season match as a Golden Sun was senior libero Madison Grantham with 18 digs. Grantham also notched an ace in the match. Riley followed Grantham in digs with 9, with Merkel adding 6 and senior defensive specialist Maggie Schlueter put up 5.
Senior middle blocker Emily Ragsdale held down the front line for the Golden Suns well with 5 total blocks against the Tigers. Bradley also had a strong night down front with 4 blocks and Paladini added 3. The Golden Suns end the regular season third in the GAC for blocks.
Arkansas Tech led the match in aces with 9 while Ouachita had 5. Tech ends the regular season as the best team in the conference for service aces with 171 total and averaging 1.94 per set, both are the highest totals among all GAC teams. The Golden Suns also domainted the match in blocks with 12 compared to just 2 for the Tigers.
Head Volleyball Coach Kera Dukic was proud of her players for earning tonight's win and is excited for the team to compete in the upcoming conference tournament.
"It's hard to believe that tonight was senior night! Our seniors have given a lot to this program and we're definitely going to miss them when they're gone. We appreciate all of the fan support not only tonight but this entire season - I really believe it was the most involved volleyball crowd in Tucker Coliseum the last few years. We aren't done yet though! I'm excited for the conference tournament coming up next week in Hot Springs. Fight On!"
While the regular season for the Golden Suns has ended, their season is not over yet as they will travel to Hot Springs next weekend to compete for the GAC Championship in the conference tournament. The tournament will run from Thursday, November 18 to Saturday, November 20 with start times to be announced.
