RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech volleyball team finished the 2025 regular season at home against Harding on Thursday night in Tucker Coliseum and came out on the downside of a five-set clash. With the loss, and results from around the Great American Conference on Thursday, the Golden Suns will be the No. 4-seed in the upcoming GAC Tournament next week.
As the No. 4-seed, the Golden Suns will play No. 5-seed Oklahoma Baptist at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, November 20. Tech and OKB played one match this regular season and it was the Golden Suns who won, 3-0.
In the match against Harding, the Golden Suns got out to a white-hot start as they controlled the entirety of the first set. After racing out to a 6-1 lead, the Golden Suns pushed the lead out to nine points, 13-4 and then later got it to double-digits at 17-7. Tech would lead by as much as 11 points in the opening set and went on to win, 25-13.
Harding was able to bounce back and won each of the next two sets to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The fourth set was back-and-forth early, but the Golden Suns created some separation and turned a one-point deficit at 9-8 into a three-point lead, 13-10, thanks to a 5-1 run burst. The Golden Suns would stay in the lead the rest of the set, but had to fend off Harding on a couple of occasions as the Lady Bisons pulled within a point.
The last time that Harding got to within a point was at 20-19. The Golden Suns then ripped off a 5-0 run to close out the set and force the decisive fifth set.
Set five was controlled early by Harding as they got out to a 6-2 lead. The Golden Suns would get themselves back into the set and pulled even on the score at 12-all. Unfortunately, Harding was able to score three-straight points to win the set, 15-12, and the match 3-2.
