ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – The Arkansas Tech volleyball team put forth a strong offensive performance on the road at Henderson State on Friday night and picked up a 3-0 shutout victory.
Across the three sets, the Golden Suns totaled 43 kills and had an attack percentage of .197. On the other end of the court, Henderson was limited to just 31 kills and an attack percentage of .159.
In the first set, the Golden Suns seized control after breaking a 7-all tie by scoring two-straight points. Both teams traded points over the next three to make it 10-9 in favor of Tech. The Golden Suns then scored four-straight to take their largest lead to that point, 14-9.
They later went on a 5-0 run to make it 19-11 and held a 21-12 lead before the Reddies rattled off eight-straight points to pull within one of the lead, 21-20. The Golden Suns finally broke that surge by Henderson and scored three-straight to get to set-point. The Reddies managed to fend off a pair of set-points before the Golden Suns put the finishing touch on the opening set, 25-22.
Set two was largely controlled by the Golden Suns with them jaunting out to leads of 10-4, 13-6 and 16-7 before really putting a chokehold on the set with a 22-9 lead. Henderson would score five out of the next six points in the match but the Golden Suns closed out the set, 25-14.
In the third set, Henderson took control after breaking a 7-all tie by scoring five of the next six points. They later went on to grab an 18-12 lead and looked as though they might force a fourth set. The chances of that grew with Henderson up 21-15, but a furious 8-0 run by Tech turned a six-point deficit into a two-points lead, 23-21.
The Reddies finally broke the Tech run to make it 23-22, but the Golden Suns scored the next two points to pull off the set-three comeback and secured the sweep of the match.
The Golden Suns were led on offense by
Henley Hooks and
Madison Crum as Hooks had a team-high 15 kills and Crum with 12. Hooks was also extremely efficient in her offense as she had just two errors on 30 total attacks for an attack percentage of .433.
Kenzie Garrett and
Kylie Lambert split time at setter with Garrett notching the most assists with 25 and Lambert with 10. Defensively, the Golden Suns had three players register at least eight digs with libero
Samantha Wojtowicz leading the way with 17, followed by Ashtyh Werth with 11 and
Karis Brinlee with eight.
The Golden Suns will now prepare for another road match, this time at Southern Arkansas on Tuesday, October 27. First-serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. from the W.T. Watson Center in Magnolia.
