RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech volleyball team falls to Quincy 0-3 in their closing match of the weekend in Tucker. Following the match, the Golden Suns are now 3-9 overall and remain 1-0 in Great American Conference play.
Quincy had the offensive prowess in the first set taking it by a score of 25-13. For the Golden Suns, they picked up six total kills in the opening set and were led by
Brianna Merkel with two of those kills. They also collected two aces in the first set from
Jamie Myrick and
Heather Thomas. Arkansas Tech finished the match with the mosts total service aces with seven compared to Quincy's five.
In the second set, Quincy got off to an early 8-4 start, but not before two errors by the Hawks and an ace from
Megan Solberg pulled Tech back within one point. Following a 4-0 run by the Hawks, both sides went back and forth going blow-for-blow for six straight points. Following the traded blows, the Hawks found a 5-1 run to put them up 21-13. The Golden Suns stayed in the fight though with three straight errors from Quincy and another kill from Merkel as well as
Emma Crenshaw to cut into the lead and make it a 19-22 deficit. Thomas would pick up the final kill of the set for Arkansas Tech before the Hawks would pull out the second set win 25-20.
Heading into the third and final set of the afternoon, the Hawks once again started off hot with a 4-0 run. Another pair of errors from Quincy and another kill from Crenshaw would cut the lead down to two to make it a 6-8 set. Quincy continued their offense and prevented the Golden Suns from making too much of a comeback attempt. Thomas would find a pair of back-to-back kills to cut into the Hawks lead once again. Down the stretch, Merkel would pick up another kill, while
Aspen Jankowski would collect back-to-back aces to make it a 20-15 lead for the Hawks. A similar sequence would happen once again with
Abigail Weaver picking up the kill and Solberg picking up the two aces making it a 19-24 deficit late in the set. The Hawks would close out the match on the next point to take the third and final set 25-19.
Leading the offensive attack for the Golden Suns was Thomas with eight total kills, while Merkel followed with six. Pacing the Golden Suns on offense was Merkel with 11 total assists. In terms of aces, Solberg led the team with three in the match. Anchoring the Golden Sun defense was Solberg with nine total digs, while Merkel picked up six. Holding down the front of the net was Thomas with a pair of assisted blocks.
Head coach of the Golden Suns,
Kera Coleman, is taking the match as a learning experience.
"Tough loss today to a very solid Quincy team. We really struggled today with putting up a good block to slow down their hitters and a large part of that was how deceptive their setter was. All we can do is grow from it and get ready for regular conference play next week! Fight on!"
The Golden Suns begin a three-game road trip on Tuesday as they take on Henderson State in Arkadelphia for their next matchup. The match against the Reddies is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.
