RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech volleyball team made its home-debut for the 2023 season on Tuesday night and left the court inside Tucker Coliseum happy as can be as they swept visiting Arkansas-Monticello, 3-0. The win against the Cotton Blossoms also has the Golden Suns out to a 1-0 start to the conference season as GAC play opened up across the league on Tuesday night.
Overall, the match was dominated by the Golden Suns as they produced 11 more kills and committed nine less errors as UAM. By night's end, the Golden Suns posted a season-low in attack errors while also notching their highest attack percentage overall at .323.
In the first set, Tech set the tone with 13 kills and just four errors while UAM had just nine kills and six errors. The Golden Suns would go on to win that initial set 25-18.
In the second set, Tech had another positive attack percentage while the Cotton Blossoms went into the negative with seven kills and nine errors. That discrepancy allowed the Golden Suns to lead the entire set and cruise to a 25-14 win.
The third set was the most competitive of the three, but it was also Tech's best set offensively, not just of the night, but of the young season. In that set, the Golden Suns would put down 18 kills while only committing two errors on 37 total attacks. On the other end of the court, UAM finally reached the 20-point mark, but that was their high watermark as Tech completed the sweep with a 25-20 win.
Statistically, the Golden Suns were led offensively by a pair of highly-efficient attackers in
Savannah Meyer and
Kaitlyn Neal. The two combined for 20 kills and no errors on 35 attack attempts. Meyer, a native of Lake St. Louis, Mo., posted her fourth match with double-digit kills as she totaled a career-high 13.
Gracie Palmer and
Kenzie Garrett split setter duties throughout the match and combined for 19 of Tech's 35 assists.
Jamie Myrick, from her libero position, added five assists as well. She would also lead the team in digs with 10.
The Golden Suns will now prepare to step back out of GAC play this coming weekend as they are set to head to the Kansas City area and play matches against Rockhurst on Friday and William Jewell on Saturday.
