MONTICELLO, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech Volleyball team finished their final road game strong with a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-23, 25-19) against Arkansas-Monticello. The Golden Suns move to 18-7 overall on the season with a 12-3 record in conference play.
Tech ends the regular season with a .500 record on the road at 5-5. The Golden Suns also sweep the season series against the Cotton Blossoms winning both regular-season matches.
Leading the offense for Tech was senior middle blocker Emily Ragsdale with 9 kills off of 13 total attempts and 1 error, giving her a fantastic .615 hitting percentage for the match. Seniors Tymber Riley and Haylee Paladini, along with junior Kaitlynn Bradley, were also a big offensive factor for the Golden Suns with the trio earning 6 kills each. Junior Brianna Merkel and freshman Abby Simpson also added 4 kills each to round out the strong contributors to the offense.
Pacing the Tech offense was junior setter Brianna Merkel. Going alongside her 4 kills in the match, Merkel also led the Golden Suns in assists with 20 and had the second-highest number of blocks on the team with 2 total. Sophomore setter Gracie Palmer also helped pace the Arkansas Tech offense with 8 assists in the match. Junior Megan Solberg and freshman Trysta Foster had a big impact serving with both players earning 2 aces on the night.
Leading the effort in digs on the defensive end was senior libero Madison Grantham with 23. Grantham had a sold night serving the ball giving the Golden Suns 3 aces. Merkel contributed in digs as well following Grantham with 7. Freshman liberos Jamie Myrick and Kacely Goforth made the most of their minutes on the defensive end with 4 digs each.
Holding down the front line with Merkel was Paladini who came up with a team-leading 3 blocks, all of which were solo in the match. Simpson and Ragsdale each added a solo block on the night as well.
As a team, Tech lead the match in total aces with 8 while Arkansas-Monticello had 4. Tech is currently the best team in the GAC in service aces. The Golden Suns controlled the match in blocks with 7 compared to the Cotton Blossoms 2. Tech is ranked third in the GAC for blocks. Arkansas Tech also came up with the most digs in the match with 51 total.
The Golden Suns' next match will be their final one of the 2021 season and their final match at home. The match is this Thursday, November 11 at 6 p.m. in Tucker Coliseum against Ouachita Baptist. Thursday's match will also be senior night.
