ARKADELPHIA, Ark. - Following their 2-0 week this past week, the Arkansas Tech volleyball team drops a match on the road to Ouachita Baptist 0-3. The Golden Suns move to 8-20 overall on the year with a 6-9 record against Great American Conference opponents.
The Tigers opened the first set grabbing the first two points of the night, but a kill from Kaitlyn Neal and an error on the Tigers tied it up at 2-2 early. A 6-2 run by Ouachita gave them an early advantage as they now held a 8-4 lead over the Golden Suns. Arkansas Tech responded with two back-to-back kills from Maddi Siedenburg and
Heather Thomas to cut the lead down to just two points at 6-8. The Tigers continued to stay on the attack, winning five of the next eight points to go up 15-10. Kills from Thomas, Sidenburg, Neal and Sierra Orton would keep Tech fighting, but Ouachita would still hold a 20-15 lead down the stretch. The Golden Suns wouldn't back down yet, however, as a 6-2 run fueled by two kills from Thomas cut the Tiger lead back down to just one at 21-22. The Tigers would pick up the next two points, while the Golden Suns responded also collecting two more points to make it a 24-23 Tiger lead, but Ouachita would close out the first set out and narrowly escape with the 25-23 first set win.
To begin the second set of action, the Tigers would open with an early 3-0 lead, but two kills from Orton and
Brianna Merkel helped the Golden Suns tie the second set at 3-3 early. Like the first set, Ouachita would find themselves with a big early advantage as a 10-2 run put them on top over the Golden Suns 13-5. The Golden Suns responded in the same way as the first set as they once again proved their tenacity and fought back earning seven of the next nine points to cut the Ouachita lead down to three at 12-15. From there, the Tigers found another run to take a 20-14 lead late in the set, but kills from Thomas and Neal, errors by the Tigers and an ace from
Gracie Palmer would close the gap of the Ouachita lead once again as they held on with just a 23-20 lead over Tech down the stretch. Once again the Tigers would manage to hang on and escape with the 25-21 second set win.
In the third set, Ouachita got going right away with a 6-1 lead wanting to close out the match. Siedenburg would pick up a pair of kills to try and rally the Golden Suns back into the set, but they were still down 4-8. From here, the Tigers were relentless on the attack which led to an 11-2 run putting the Golden Suns in a tough spot 19-6 in the set. The Golden Suns still remained in the fight grabbing six out of the next nine points that saw two kills from Orton, a kill from Siedenburg and one from
Emma Crenshaw as well as an ace from Jamie Myrick to make it a 21-11 Ouachita lead. The Tigers would finish the match on a 4-2 run to grab the 25-13 third set win and take home the victory for the match.
Leading the Golden Suns on the offensive attack was Siedenburg with 11 total kills on the night. She was followed by Thomas who picked up seven kills against the Tigers. Pacing the Arkansas Tech offense was Palmer with 30 total assists. Both Palmer and Myrick led the team in aces with two.
Defensively, Siedenburg was the anchor picking up eight total digs, while
Megan Solberg followed right behind with seven. Locking down the front of the net for Arkansas Tech was Thomas with four assisted blocks. Following Thomas was the pair of Palmer and Siedenburg, who each picked up two assisted blocks in the match.
The Golden Suns will return home to Tucker Coliseum in their next outing for their final match of the regular season where they will take on conference leader Harding who has yet to lose a GAC match this season. The match against the Bisons is set for a 6 p.m. first serve in Tucker on Thursday evening. That night will also be Senior Night for the Golden Suns.
