LIBERTY, Mo. – The Arkansas Tech volleyball team wrapped up their final weekend of non-conference play on Saturday afternoon against William Jewell. The Golden Suns would battle throughout the match, but ultimately lost in straight sets to the Cardinals.
The opening set was controlled from the outset by the Cardinals as they jumped out to a 9-1 advantage. Later in the set, Jewell held a double-digit lead 22-12, but the Golden Suns would rally and scored five of the next six points to close the deficit to six points, 23-17. William Jewell would go on to score two of the next three points to close out the set.
Set two saw the Cardinals take another early lead, but the Golden Suns closed the gap and pulled within a point on a couple of occasions. The last of those came with Jewell leading 17-14 as Tech scored two-straight on an attack error by the Cardinals and a kill by
Kaitlyn Neal.
The Cardinals were able to stave off the Golden Suns and went on a 5-0 scoring run to seize control of the set. Jewell would close out the set 25-18.
Set three was a different story early as the Golden Suns were the ones that jumped out to an early lead. After the Cardinals pulled within a point, 9-8, the Golden Suns ripped off four-straight points to take a five-point lead, 13-8. During that push, Tech got kills from
Lauren Grier, Neal and
Henley Hooks. Additionally, Hooks and Grier combined for a block assist.
William Jewell did manage to tie the set at 15-all and at 17-all, but each time, Tech remained in front. Leading 19-17, the Golden Suns had their lead taken away on a five-point Cardinal run that flipped a two-point lead by Tech into a two-point deficit, 22-19.
The Golden Suns responded with a five-point run of their own to push the set to set point in their favor. During that stretch, Tech benefitted from a trio of attack errors and kills by Hooks and Grier. One of the Jewell attack errors came from an assisted block by Grier and
Sierra Orton.
Unfortunately, the Golden Suns were unable to close out the set as William Jewell scored four-straight to take the set 26-24 and with it the match, 3-0.
Neal and Hooks led the way offensively for Tech in terms of kills with eight each.
Gracie Palmer had 18 assists followed by
Kenzie Garrett's eight helpers. Defensively,
Jamie Myrick had eight digs to lead the team. Hooks and
Madi Hartman were one off that pace with seven.
The Golden Suns will now shift their focus back to Great American Conference play where they have a road match at Southern Arkansas coming up on Tuesday, September 19.
