RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech Volleyball team earns their biggest win of the season sweeping Harding 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-17) to stand alone as the best team in the GAC. The Golden Suns are the only remaining team in the GAC to show a perfect record in conference play moving to 5-0 after the win. With their victory over Harding, Tech has now won 8 consecutive matches securing their third straight perfect week and move to 11-3 overall on the season.
Leading the Golden Sun attack was senior right-side hitter Haylee Paladini with 15 kills against the Lady Bisons. Senior outside hitter Tymber Riley was just as formidable on the offensive end with 14 kills. Riley also notched her second straight double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs. Pacing the offense was junior setter Brianna Merkel with 34 assists on the night.
Senior libero Madison Grantham led the Golden Sun's defensive effort with 21 digs. Junior libero Megan Solberg also contributed with 14 digs. Freshman libero Jamie Myrick had a big defensive night for the Golden Suns with 12 digs. Along with her team-leading 15 kills, Paladini also led Tech in total blocks with 3.
The start of the first set was a close one with both teams tying it up early at 4-4. Tymber Riley proceeded to lead Tech on a 5-0 run contributing a trio of kills to put them up 9-4 over Harding. Tech continued to lead with Harding inching closer to make it just a one-point lead at 14-13. A kill by Paladini and two aces from Solberg gave Tech some breathing room leading 17-13. The Golden Suns continued to stay on the attack against the Lady Bisons and closed the set strong with kills from Emily Ragsdale and Paladini to take a 25-19 set one win.
Tech jumped out to an early 3-0 lead to start the second set with two kills from Paladini and an error by Harding. The Lady Bisons fought back to take a 7-6 lead. The Golden Suns found another 5-0 run capitalizing on four errors by the Lady Bisons and a kill from Kaitlynn Bradley to take an 11-7 lead. A pair of kills from Ragsdale and Paladini pushed the Tech lead to 17-13. Harding battled their way back into the set down the stretch tying Arkansas Tech 23-23. Once again, the Golden Suns closed the set strong with a kill from Paladini to give them a 25-23 second set win and set up for the sweep.
The third and final set remained a close battle until Harding could finally pull away from Tech taking a 12-8 lead. Two errors by the Lady Bisons and a kill from Abby Simpson closed the gap for the Golden Suns making it a 12-11 game. Harding tried to pull away from Tech going up 14-12. Down 14-12 in the third set, the Golden Suns proceeded to dominate finding an incredible 9-0 run that included four kills by Riley, two kills from Bradley and an ace from Myrick to take a commanding 21-14 lead. Harding could not find the energy to make a comeback as Tech walked off with a 25-17 third set win and claiming the sweep.
Head Volleyball Coach Kera Dukic was ecstatic to see her team play at such a high level.
"We most definitely needed that win tonight! This was some of the best I've seen our team play in a while. We were focused, determined, and urgent! I loved everything about it. The energy from the crowd was outstanding and we were able to feed off of that and get the job done. Now it's time for us to rest and refocus for next week!"
The Golden Suns will return to Tucker Coliseum for their next match against Oklahoma Baptist University on Friday, October 8. The match is set for a 6 p.m. start.
