BETHANY, Okla. – The Arkansas Tech volleyball team dropped a back-and-forth match on the road at Southern Nazarene, losing in five sets on Friday night.
The Golden Suns started off the match strong and overpowered SNU in the first set 25-19. In that set, the Golden Suns racked up 15 kills to SNU's eight. The Crimson Storm bounced back in the second set and established a big lead early in the set.
Trailing by eight, 14-6, the Golden Suns fought their way back into the and scored five of the next six points to pull within four, 15-11. SNU would then build their lead back up to seven, 19-12, as they scored four of the next five points. The Golden Suns would not give in an and eventually pulled within a point, 23-22 before the Crimson Storm closed out the set, 25-22.
Set three, the Golden Suns found themselves trailing big early again, but once more displayed fight to climb back into things. In fact, after trailing 7-2, the Golden Suns went on a run to take the lead and eventually built it out as large as four points, 16-12. The Crimson Storm then pulled within a point at 16-15, but the Golden Suns were able to stave off that surge and quickly took control of the set to cruise to a 25-18 win.
The fourth set was closely-contested throughout, but SNU was able to have the key run in the later stages to take control and use that lead to secure the set victory and force a fifth.
In the decisive fifth set, the Golden Suns appeared to be well on their way to a match win as they raced out to a 7-2 lead and were the first to 10, but the Crimson Storm had one last monster run in them and it proved to be the difference in the set. SNU would score the nine of the final 10 points to stun the Golden Suns.
Statistically, the Golden Suns were led by
Savannah Meyer in kills with 20. She was followed behind by Kaitlynn Neal who had a season-high 16.
The Golden Suns will now look to bounce back this coming Tuesday as they remain on the road to play their final non-conference match of the season at Lane College. First-serve is scheduled for 6 p.m.
