MONTICELLO, Ark. - The Arkansas Tech volleyball team dropped a 2-3 five-set match on the road to Arkansas-Monticello on Tuesday evening. The team moves to 3-12 overall with a 1-3 record against GAC opponents following the match.
In the opening set of the night both sides put together small runs that led to them trading blows for the lead before UAM would pull ahead with a 13-10 lead. After going up 24-19 on the Golden Suns it looked as if the Cotton Blossoms would walk away with the win in the first set, but the Golden Suns had other plans. Arkansas Tech stuck together and proceeded to go on a fantastic 7-0 run led by three kills from
Heather Thomas to stun UAMÂ and take set one 26-24.
The second set proved to be a bit tougher for Tech as the Cotton Blossoms jumped out to a 10-5 lead to start the set. The Golden Suns would try, but the early lead by UAM in the set was the advantage they needed to take the second set to tie it up at one set win a piece.
In the third set, Arkansas Tech proved to be the team that would start hot quickly jumping out on the attack to grab an 11-4 lead. The Golden Suns would continue to stay aggressive on the attack as
Kaitlyn Neal and Thomas picked up a few kills and
Megan Solberg added an ace to extend the lead to 17-5. The team was definitely feeling it in the third set as they would close out the third set on an 8-5 run to dominate the set in a 25-11 win to go up 2-1 in the match.
Once again the Golden Suns would start strong as they took an early 9-6 lead in the fourth set looking strong once again. A pair of kills from
Sierra Orton and Neal as well as an ace from Solberg put them up 12-9 over UAM. The Cotton Blossoms began to fight back though as they quickly went on a 5-1 run to take the lead at 14-13. Following a kill from
Jordyn English and an error from the Cotton Blossoms, Arkansas Tech grabbed back the lead at 17-16. From here, both sides had sizable runs to teeter the lead back and forth down the stretch, with Tech eventually reaching match point up 24-23 late in the fourth set. However, UAM did not back down and overcame the match point to take the fourth set 26-24 and force one final set.
The Cotton Blossoms would take command in the fifth set and win the match 3-2 taking the 15-8 fifth set win over the Golden Suns.
Leading the offensive effort for the Golden Suns against UAM was the pair of Thomas and Neal each posting ten kills on the night. Following the leading pair was Orton with seven kills against the Cotton Blossoms. Pacing the offense for Arkansas Tech was
Brianna Merkel with 19 assists, while
Gracie Palmer assisted on 12 plays. In terms of service aces,
Jamie Myrick led the team with four on the night. Both Merkel and Solberg added help on the serve each with two aces in the match.Â
Anchoring the Golden Sun defense was Solberg picking up 19 total digs in the match. Alongside Solberg was Merkel with 11 digs. Holding down the front of the net against the Cotton Blossoms was Orton picking up three solo blocks and one assisted for a solid four blocks on the evening. Orton had the best outing of her career as a member of the Golden Suns setting new career highs in both kills and blocks following tonights match.
The Golden Suns will get one day in between their next outing as they return home to face Ouachita Baptist in Tucker Coliseum on Thursday evening. Thursday night's home match is set for a 6 p.m. first serve and will be faculty/staff appreciation night.
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