DURANT, Okla. - Coming off an 0-3 loss to Ouachita Baptist at home, the Golden Suns bounce back with a big time match as they sweep Southeastern 3-0 on their own home court in straight sets. Following the match, the Golden Suns move to 4-13 overall and hold a 2-4 record against Great American Conference opponents.

In the first set of the match, the Golden Suns started strong as two service aces from Brianna Merkel and Jamie Myrick as well as a trio of kills from Heather Thomas, Kaitlyn Neal and Lydia Hale lifted them to an early 7-3 lead. The Savage Storm charged back however to tie things up at 8-8. A few points later, Arkansas Tech managed to create some separation from Southeastern as a quick 5-2 run, fueled by three kills from Neal, put them up 16-13. Heading down the stretch, Southeastern managed to find a run that gave them a late 20-19 lead. The Golden Suns responded though closing out the first set on a 6-3 run and a kill from Maddi Siedenburg capped off the set as they took the 25-23 set one win over the Savage Storm.

The start of set two was a close battle as both sides traded blows before Southeastern found an early 5-4 lead. A kill from Sierra Orton and one from Siedenburg as well as a few errors by the Savage Storm set the Golden Suns up to take an 8-6 lead. Later in the set, the Savage Storm would find a lead, but two kills from Thomas and one from Neal got the Golden Suns back in the set tying it 12-12. Costly errors plagued Southeastern as their mistakes helped Arkansas Tech to an 8-2 run to take a 19-15 lead. A kill from Siedenburg and Thomas as well as an ace from Myrick extended the Golden Sun lead to 23-18. The Savage Storm would try and attempt a late comeback with a 3-0 run, but one final kill from Neal closed out the second set giving Arkansas Tech the 25-22 set two win.

The Golden Suns quickly got rolling on offense to start the third set of play as Thomas picked up two kills to start, while Myrick collected another ace and Neal put down another kill. One more kill from Neal, three straight errors from Southeastern and a pair of back-to-back kills from Siedenburg pushed the Golden Sun lead to 10-5. The offense for Arkansas Tech continued to stay relentless on the attack as their next five points came from kills, resulting in a 14-9 lead. That would be the advantage the Golden Suns would need to close out the set as they took the third and final set 25-15 to pick up the match win and the sweep of Southeastern on the road.

Leading the offensive attack for the Golden Suns was the pair of Thomas and Neal, each putting down 13 kills. Both were also extremely efficient in their work tonight as Thomas picked up an incredible .765 hitting percentage with 13 kills on 17 total attacks with no errors. Neal had an efficient night as well with a .435 percentage on the attack. Sidenburg followed the leading pair with eight total kills on the night. Pacing the Golden Suns on offense was Merkel with 35 total assists. In terms of aces, Myrick led the team with three. 

On defense, Megan Solberg was the anchor picking up a team-high 15 digs, while Merkel followed with seven. Holding down the front of the net for the Golden Suns was Orton with four blocks assisted, while Hale and Thomas followed with three assisted blocks.

Head coach of the Golden Suns, Kera Coleman, was proud of her team for getting the job done to earn the road win.

"Great road win tonight! Heather Thomas was absolutely unreal tonight. Both her offensive production and confidence were off the charts and we loved to see it. We're proud of the girls for earning this win on the road and against a really good SEOSU team. On to Ada! Fight on!"

The Golden Suns have a quick turn around as they head to Ada, Okla. for a GAC match against East Central tomorrow. The match against East Central is set for a 4 p.m. first serve tomorrow afternoon.  Read Full Article