BETHANY, Okla. - The Arkansas Tech volleyball team dropped a tough five set match on the road against Southern Nazarene on Thursday evening. Following the match, the Golden Suns move to 5-17 overall and 3-7 against GAC opponents.
Southern Nazarene opened the first set with an early 6-1 lead, which they would extend to a 9-4 lead. The Golden Suns would put together a 5-1 run to pull back within one at 9-10. A 10-2 run by the Crimson Storm would put them up 20-11 down the stretch. Near the end of the set, Arkansas Tech put together a 3-0 run thanks to kills from
Maddi Siedenburg and
Kaitlyn Neal to cut to a 23-17 lead for SNU, but the Crimson Storm would close out the set and take it 25-17.
Once again, the Crimson Storm would open strong taking an early 10-4 lead over the Golden Suns to begin the second set. That lead would eventually grow to a 17-9 lead. The Golden Suns managed to put together a solid 6-3 run that would see a trio of kills from
Heather Thomas and one from Neal as well as an ace from
Aspen Jankowski to cut the lead to five as the Golden Suns were still down 15-20. A kill from Siedenburg and an ace from Thomas made it a 17-21 set. SNU would close out the second set on a 4-1 run to take set two 25-18.
The third set of the night proved to be a brutal slug fest as both sides refused to give an inch. Both sides went at each other early going blow-for-blow until SNU pulled away with an 11-7 lead. The Golden Suns refused to give up though as they managed to climb back in and tie the set up at 13-13. Eventually, the Golden Suns put together a 7-1 run thanks to a kill from
Sierra Orton, a pair of aces from
Megan Solberg and Jankowski as well as four straight errors by the Crimson Storm to take a 22-19 lead. Following a kill from Thomas the Golden Suns managed to get to set point, but a run by SNU tied it up at 24 all. 14 of the next 18 points went blow-for-blow as the third set went into well over extra point territory until a pair of back-to-back errors from the Crimson Storm gave the Golden Suns the 37-35 set three win to avoid the sweep.
The start of the fourth set proved to be a close battle going blow-for-blow once more until SNU came away with the 7-6 lead. However, the Golden Suns proceeded to go on an incredible 12-3 run that saw kills from
Brianna Merkel, Neal, Siedenburg, Thomas and
Abigail Weaver to give the Golden Suns a commanding 20-12 advantage in the fourth set of the night. Another pair of kills from Thomas and Neal helped put the Golden Suns at set point and one final kill from Neal gave Arkansas Tech the 25-18 set four win to force a winner take all fifth set showdown against the Crimson Storm in Bethany.
Southern Nazarene began the final set of the night with an early 4-1 lead, but two kills from Weaver and Siedenburg as well as an ace from
Mikaela Esparza tied the fifth set at 4-4. SNU would take back the lead, but Arkansas Tech would stay in the fight as a trio of kills from Weaver, Merkel and Neal made it just a one point deficit for Tech down 9-10. The Crimson Storm would close out the set and the match on a 5-3 run, however, to take the fifth and final set 15-12 and narrowly escape with the 3-2 match win over the Golden Suns.
Leading the Golden Suns on the attack was Siedenburg with 19 kills on an efficient .316 hitting percentage. Following Siedenburg was Thomas with 13 kills on a .333 hitting percentage. Pacing the Golden Suns on offense was the pair of
Gracie Palmer and Jankowski. Palmer recorded the team-high 27 assists against the Crimson Storm, while Jankowski had a season-high 24 assists on the night. Jankowski led the team in service aces with three in the match.
Anchoring the Golden Suns defensively was Solberg with 25 digs, while Siedenburg notched a double-double with 16 digs to go alongside her 19 kills. Locking down the front of the net was Thomas who had a monster night recording three solo blocks and four assisted to make it a seven total block night. Weaver also had a solid outing at the front of the net with four assisted blocks for the Golden Suns.
Head volleyball coach
Kera Coleman was proud of the fight her team showed in the match.
"Amazing fight by this group tonight. We really showed how much potential we have and how willing we are to go to battle. All we can continue to hope for and push for is to get better every day and take advantage of every opportunity that's given to us. I thought our offensive production tonight looked as consistent as it's looked in a while and we were very intentional as a whole. Been a long time since I've seen a set go 37-35! Fight on!"
The Golden Suns will have a quick turnaround as they travel to Shawnee, Okla. tomorrow for a matchup against Oklahoma Baptist. The match against the Bison is set for a 4 p.m. first serve tomorrow afternoon.
