2012 GAC VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP HOME PAGE
SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 3, EAST CENTRAL 2
25-22, 12-25, 15-25, 25-18, 15-11
SEARCY, Ark. - No. 3 seed Southern Arkansas scored a dramatic five-set victory against No. 6 seed East Central to open the 2012 Great American Conference Volleyball Championship as the Lady Muleriders rallied from a two-sets-to-one deficit to advance to the semifinal round for the second straight year.
After Southern Arkansas (23-11) took the first set 25-22, East Central (10-23) dominated the second and third sets, winning 25-12 and 25-18. In those two sets, the Lady Tigers hit .441 and made only two attack errors out of 59 attempts. Noelle Cope and Tatiana Booth carried the Lady Tiger offense to the early advantage. They opened the match combining for 21 kills on their first 29 attacks against only one error.
The Lady Muleriders adjusted as the match moved to set four. The set opened with the teams splitting the first 10 points before Southern Arkansas scored eight of the next nine to take a 13-6 lead. The SAU advantage would get no closer than five points for the remainder of the set. The Lady Tigers hit -.122 in the set as Southern Arkansas squared the match with a 25-18 victory.
In the decisive set, SAU started quickly and took a 4-1 advantage. The lead grew to 8-3 at the time of the changeover. The Lady Tigers attempted to mount a final rally as they closed the deficit to 9-7 before a service error pushed the lead back to three. East Central never drew any closer and GAC Newcomer of the Year Denise DeVine finished out the match with her 11th kill.
DeVine registered with a double-double as she added 13 digs. Courtney Smith led the Muleriders with 15 kills and hit .333. Cope and Booth each totaled 16 kills to lead East Central.
Southern Arkansas advances to Friday’s 3:30 p.m. semifinal match and will face the winner of Arkansas Tech and Arkansas-Monticello match.
ARKANSAS TECH 3, ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO 0
25-13, 25-5, 25-20
SEARCY, Ark. – The defending Great American Conference Volleyball Tournament champions, Arkansas Tech, made quick work of Arkansas-Monticello with a three-set victory on Thursday at the Rhodes Field House to advance to the semifinals.
The Golden Suns (26-9) notched their 17th sweep of the season by hitting .391 for the match. Kaitlyn White led the team with 14 kills while Brittany Ryan and Sara Motsinger each recorded nine. Katie Huff hit .857 with six kills on seven attacks.
After her team closed out the first set on a 10-1 run, Arkansas Tech’s First-Team All-GAC setter Amber Cerrillos put on a serving display in the second set. She served for 15 straight points – including four aces – as the Golden Suns jumped out to a 17-1 led in the set en route to a 25-5 win. The 20-point margin represented the largest in the brief history of the GAC Volleyball Championships. She added 30 assists in the three-set victory.
Arkansas-Monticello (11-24) kept competitive in the final set, as they twice pulled to within a point at 16-15 and 17-16. However, the Cotton Blossoms never wrestle the advantage away as Arkansas Tech closed out the match with a 25-20 victory.
The Golden Suns advance to Friday’s 3:30 p.m. semifinal match and will face Southern Arkansas. Arkansas Tech swept the regular-season meetings as the Golden Suns won in four sets in Magnolia and swept the Lady Muleriders to close out the regular season.
HARDING 3, SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA STATE 0
25-4, 25-20, 25-9
SEARCY, Ark. – Top seed and host Harding advanced to the semifinals of the 2012 Great American Conference Volleyball Championships with a resounding three-set sweep of Southeastern Oklahoma State Thursday at the Rhodes Field House.
The Lady Bisons (26-6) opened the match by scoring the first 13 points en route to a 25-4 victory. The four points represented the fewest allowed in a set by Harding since a 25-3 set win against Ohio Valley in 2008. GAC Player of the Year Mollie Arnold collected seven of her match-high 20 kills and Lisa Copleand notched nine of match-leading 20 digs in the set.
Southeastern (5-28) opened the second set strong and took a 9-7 lead entering the middle of the set. Harding, however, re-established control with an 8-2 run and never relinquished the lead. Arnold added eight more kills in the set and Alyssa Short collected five kills against no errors in eight chances.
While not as overwhelming as in the first set, Harding grabbed control of the third set early. The Lady Bisons raced out to a 10-3 advantage and kept on the offensive as they closed out the contest with a 25-9 victory. They secured their 19th sweep of the season.
With the win, the Lady Bisons extended their streak to 11 straight wins. Of those 11 wins, 10 have been by sweep and the 11th win, a four-set victory against Arkansas Tech, saw the Lady Bisons sweep the match’s final three sets.
Arnold finished with 20 kills, her fourth 20-kills match this season and the first achieved in a three-win match. She hit .486. First-Team All-GAC setter Amber Schinzing handed out 35 assists in the contest. GAC Freshman of the Year Megan Kunkel paced the Savage Storm with 13 digs.
The Lady Bisons advance to Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal match and will face the winner of Ouachita Baptist-Southwestern Oklahoma State match.
Day one of the GAC Championships concludes with Southwestern Oklahoma State taking on Ouachita Baptist at 7:30 p.m. All remaining matches will stream live at
GreatAmericanConference.com in partnership with the GAC Sports Network.
SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE vs OUACHITA BAPTIST
25-21, 25-13, 15-25, 25-20
SEARCY, Ark. – Thursday’s quarterfinals of the Great American Conference Volleyball Championships concluded with Southwestern Oklahoma State winning its first ever GAC Volleyball Championship match, 3-1, against Ouachita Baptist from Harding’s Rhodes Field House.
The Bulldogs (13-19), who won for the eighth time in their last 11 games, capped a day in which all four of the tournament’s higher seeds advanced to the semifinals. Second-Team All-GAC middle blocker Alison Cole led the offensive attack with 14 kills and a .273 hitting percentage.
Two Bulldogs reached double-doubles in assists and digs. Lindsay Dusin recorded a match-high 25 assists to go along with 15 digs. Breann Whitaker added 14 assists and 15 digs. Saasha Jacobson totaled 30 of the Bulldogs’ 99 digs.
The opening set featured six ties and three lead changes as neither team could build more than a three-point lead until the tale end of set. Leading 18-17, SWOSU scored three straight points on kills by Joey Collins, Christina Darras and Adriana Rodriguez to seize a four-point advantage.
Southwestern Oklahoma State eliminated much of the drama from the second set by winning the first five points of the set. Even after Ouachita Baptist (10-17) closed the deficit to 9-7, the Bulldogs responded with an 8-1 run. Jacobson recorded a pair of service aces over the span of the run. Cole hit a perfect 1.000 in the set scoring kills on all four attacks.
The Lady Tigers turned a competitive third set into a one-sided affair as they scored 20 of the final 27 points to claim a 25-15 victory in the set. Second-Team All-GAC Libero Allison Frizzell notched 12 of her 24 digs in the third set alone and Abby Pickett converted all six of her attack chances into kills.
The Bulldogs quelled any thoughts of a Lady Tiger comeback by winning the first three points of the fourth set. From that point, they extended the lead to 10-3 and it grew to as wide as 10 points before they eliminated Ouachita Baptist by the fourth-set score of 25-20.
SWOSU advanced to face the top-seeded Harding Lady Bisons in Friday’s 6 p.m. semifinal. Harding beat Southwestern Oklahoma State in three sets on Oct. 20 and hit .396 in the victory.