HAYS, Kan. – First-year head volleyball coach
Hannah Wuest secured the first win of her collegiate career on Saturday as Arkansas Tech beat Cameron, 3-0 in the second match of the day for the Golden Suns. The first match was 3-1 loss to Rockhurst.
ROCKHURST
As they did in their most-recent match the night prior, the Golden Suns got out to a great start in their match against Rockhurst as Tech won the first set 25-21. In that opening set, Tech registered 14 kills and benefitted from seven Rockhurst attack errors.
The pivotal stretch in the set came with Tech trailing by a point, 17-16. From there, the Golden Suns ripped off four-straight points to go up 20-17. Then with the Golden Suns leading by a point, 21-20, Tech put the set out of reach with three-straight points to go up 24-20.
The second set featured alternating runs by the Hawks and Golden Suns. Rockhurst would have the most significant one as it was an 8-0 run that turned a one-point lead for the Hawks into a nine-point lead, 14-5. The Golden Suns responded with five-straight of their own to get within four points of the lead, but it was not enough to overcome the initial surge by Rockhurst.
Set three was back-and-forth as well. With Tech leading 19-16, Rockhurst flipped the three-point margin in their favor with a 6-0 run and went up 22-19. The Golden Suns had three-straight points to tie the set at 22-all, but Rockhurst scored the final three to win the set.
In the fourth set, Rockhurst was able to go on another late run that helped flip the result in their favor. This time, it was scoring five of six points after trailing 19-18 to go up 23-20. The Golden Suns and Hawks would trade points the rest of the way as Rockhurst secured the set and match.
Henley Hooks was the leading attacker for the Golden Suns as she had 18 kills and was the only one in double figures.
CAMERON
In the final game of their weekend, the Golden Suns put together their best all-around match of the young season. In sweeping Cameron, Tech had a season-best .250 team attack percentage while also limiting the Aggies to a season-low .112 attack percentage.
The best set offensively for the Golden Suns came in set one as Tech hit .313 thanks to 13 kills and three errors on 32 total attacks. Their high-kill total came in set two as they totaled 16.
Five different players had at least five kills for Tech and were led in the match by
Savannah Meyer and her 11. Hooks added nine kills against Cameron to give her 27 for the day.
Erika Hernandez had eight kills and just one error.
UP NEXT
The Golden Suns will now prepare for their second weekend of action and will do so on the road at the Texas Woman's Invitational. Tech will play three matches across two days starting first with a match on Friday night against Southern New Hampshire. That is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
