Box Score SEARCY, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech Golden Suns pushed No. 7 Harding Lady Bisons to five sets in a closely battled regular season finale matchup, ultimately falling 3-2 (12-25, 25-22, 25-19, 27-29 and 5-15).
The Golden Suns open the Great American Conference championship tournament as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Division, taking on the winner of No. 3 seed and No. 6 Southern Arkansas Thursday, April 8 in Tucker Coliseum.
The Lady Bison opened the match with a 5-0 run before a kill from
Haylee Paladini put the Golden Suns on the board. The Golden Suns struggled with unforced errors in the opening set matched with the efficient offense from Harding. The Lady Bisons took the first set, 25-12.
The teams traded points to open the second set until a kill from
Emily Ragsdale gave the Golden Suns an 8-6 lead. The set continued to go back and forth with the Lady Bisons taking an 18-16 lead before a kill from
Mackenzie Eford tied things at 22-22. Two aces from
Tymber Riley and a kill from Eford sealed the Golden Suns second set victory, 25-22.
Arkansas Tech took a quick 8-4 lead to open the third set after a block from
Rilie Vote and Ragsdale, kills from Paladini, Riley and Eford and an ace from
Madison Grantham. The Golden Suns pushed their lead to seven twice, 14-7 after another kill from Ragsdale and 20-13 after a kill from Vote. The Lady Bisons answered, pulling within two, 20-18 prompting a rebuttal from the Golden Suns. Arkansas Tech won five of the final six points of the set to win set three 25-19 after errors from Harding and kills from Ragsdale and Vote.
Harding grabbed a small 4-1 lead to start the set before a kill from Riley tied things up 5-5. The Golden Suns took a 13-11 lead after a block from
Brianna Merkel and Ragsdale and kills from Paladini and Ragsdale. The Lady Bison forced a timeout from the Golden Suns at 17-16 before Arkansas Tech used a 4-1 run to take a 20-18 after kills from Ragsdale and Vote and a solo block from Ragsdale. Harding used their own 4-1 run to tie things up 22-22. A kill from Riley put the Golden Suns up 24-22 and forced a Harding timeout. The Lady Bison managed to take the fourth set 29-27, forcing a fifth and final set.
In the final set, the Golden Suns tied things 3-3 after a kill from Eford before the Lady Bisons used a 6-0 to go up 9-3. An ace from
Gracie Palmer gave the Goldens their fifth point, still trailing 9-5. Harding continued to push their lead going up 13-5 and ultimate taking the fifth set, 15-5.
Eford led the Golden Suns hitting .400 for the match with 12 kills and Paladini put down 12 kills with Riley rounding out double-digit kills with a season-high 10 on the night and a double-double with 10 digs. Ragsdale led the front line with three blocks and Grantham led the Golden Suns with 21 digs. Merkel and
Emily Acker both dished out 20 assists apiece. Arkansas Tech served up eight aces with three from Palmer.
