SHAWNEE, Okla. - The Arkansas Tech volleyball team dropped a road match to Oklahoma Baptist 0-3 on Friday afternoon in Shawnee. Following the match, the Golden Suns move to 5-18 overall with a 3-8 record against Great American Conference opponents.
The Golden Suns opened the first set of the afternoon strong grabbing the first five points on a 5-0 run that saw kills from
Kaitlyn Neal and
Heather Thomas as well as a pair of aces from
Aspen Jankowski. Thomas racked up two more kills to give Arkansas Tech an early 7-5 lead over the Bison. Oklahoma Baptist quickly responded to the Golden Suns with a 10-0 run that put them up 15-7 in the middle of the set. A kill from
Emma Crenshaw and a pair of kills from
Sierra Orton helped the Golden Suns to a 5-2 run to cut the Bison lead down to 12-17. Three costly errors by the Bison and two more kills for Thomas put the game within in two points as OKBU held a narrow 19-17 lead. Ultimately, the Bison would close out the set on a 6-1 run to take the first set 25-18.
In set two, the Golden Suns found themselves with an early lead at 6-5 that was capped off by a pair of kills from Crenshaw and
Brianna Merkel. Following a 3-0 run by the Bison, the Golden Suns would manage to tie the set at 10-10 with two back-to-back kills from Neal. From here, Oklahoma Baptist went on a 10-0 run to make it a 20-11 lead down the stretch of the second set. The Golden Suns showed their fight once again however with a 6-3 run fueled by three kills from Crenshaw to make it a 23-17 set. The Bison would close it out and take the second set 25-17.
This time, the Bison would open the set hot with an early 11-4 lead over the Golden Suns. Two errors by OKBU and a kill from Crenshaw cut the lead down to five at 7-12. An 8-3 run by the Bison extended their lead up to 20-12 over the Golden Suns late in the set. The Golden Suns would not back down however as they put together a great 9-1 run led by Merkel, with two kills and
Megan Solberg, with two aces, to tie the third set up at 21-21. The run would unfortunately end their as the Bison closed out on a 4-0 run to take the third set 25-21 and pick up the win for the match.
Leading the offensive attack for the Golden Suns was Thomas with a team-high eight kills against the Bison. Following Thomas was Crenshaw with seven total kills on the afternoon. Pacing the Golden Suns on offense was
Gracie Palmer collecting 19 assists in the match. Solberg came up big on the serve logging four aces in her outing.
Anchoring the Golden Suns on defense was Solberg with 10 digs against OKBU. Holding down the front of the net for Arkansas Tech was Thomas who put down one solo block and two assisted for three total blocks on the afternoon.
The Golden Suns will return home for their next matchup on Tuesday as they face a nonconference opponent in Drury. The match against Drury is set for a 6 p.m. first serve in Tucker Coliseum on Tuesday evening.Â
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