2012 GAC VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP HOME PAGE
ARKANSAS TECH 3 SOUTHERN ARKANSAS 0
25-19, 25-20, 28-26
SEARCY, Ark. – Trailing late in the third set, defending Great American Conference Volleyball champion Arkansas Tech staved off two set points and closed out Southern Arkansas in a three-set sweep Friday in the opening GAC Volleyball Championship semifinal from Harding’s Rhodes Field House.
Southern Arkansas (23-12) looked like it might push the match to a fourth set when it used a 9-2 run in the middle of the third set to take an 18-15 lead. The Lady Muleriders extended their third-set lead to 22-18 before Arkansas Tech (27-9) scored four straight to level the set. First-Team All-GAC middle blocker Sara Motsinger collected kills on four of Arkansas Tech’s final eight points of the season including the match winner.
Prior to the third set – one that featured 10 ties and three lead changes – the opening two sets only saw six ties and five lead changes as Arkansas Tech controlled both, winning 25-19 and 25-20, respectively. Southern Arkansas hit only .059 in those opening two sets.
Motsinger paced the Golden Suns’ offense as she hit .367 for the contest. Kaitlyn White notched a match high 18 kills and she added 10 digs. Over the final two sets, she hit .520 on 25 attacks without an error. First-Team All-GAC setter Amber Cerrillos added 10 digs in addition to a match-leading 40 assists.
Arkansas Tech advanced to face the winner of the Harding-Southwestern Oklahoma State contest in Saturday’s 2 p.m. title game. The Golden Suns lost both regular-season meetings to the Lady Bisons and also dropped their lone prior 2012 contest with the Bulldogs. Tech beat Harding in five sets in last season’s final.
Semifinal Friday concludes with the Lady Bisons facing the Bulldogs in a match that began at 6 p.m. All GAC Volleyball Championship matches will stream live at
GreatAmericanConference.com in partnership with the GAC Sports Network.
HARDING vs SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE
25-20, 25-18, 21-25, 23-25, 15-11
SEARCY, Ark. – Through the opening two sets of Friday’s Harding-Southwestern Oklahoma State semifinal contest, the top-seeded Lady Bisons appeared to have the match in hand. However, the Bulldogs fought back, took the next two sets and forced a decisive fifth set. In that final set, the Lady Bisons never trailed, won it 15-11 and thus the match, to earn a return trip to the 2012 Great American Conference Volleyball Championship title game.
Harding (27-6) won its third five-set match of the season, a match length it had not been pushed to since October 6. The Lady Bisons had won 35 of their last 36 sets after they scored 25-20 and 25-18 wins in the opening two sets. They immediately fell behind in the third set, 6-2, but rallied for an 11-9 lead. The Bulldogs (13-20) and Lady Bisons traded points until at 18-18 when the Bulldogs ripped off five straight points to take control of the set. Second-Team All-GAC middle blocker Alison Cole closed out the set with a kill.
Cole continued to make her presence known in the fourth set as she notched seven kills in the set. Despite Cole’s efforts, on three occasions, Harding pushed its lead out to five points, even as late in the set as 16-11. They still held a 21-19 lead before Cole came alive. She notched three kills as part of a 4-0 spurt that finally flipped the advantage to their side at 23-21. Even when Harding scored two straight points and with the partisan Rhodes Field House ready to celebrate a victory, Harding served up an error and SWOSU’s Kiley Brennfoerder and Adriana Rodriguez combined for a block on an Alyssa Short attempt to extend the match to the fifth set.
The fifth set lacked some of the drama of the opening four sets. After the first four sets featured 21 ties and nine lead changes, the lone tie in the fifth set came after only two points. Southwestern Oklahoma State didn’t win a single point on its serve. After failing to crack the .200 hitting percentage in any of the first four sets, Harding hit .320 in the final set. GAC Player of the Year Mollie Arnold combined with Marindia Turner and Bailee Graham for 10 kills without an error in the set.
Arnold and Turner led Harding’s offense as they combined for 33 kills. Cole notched 14 kills for the Bulldogs. Her teammate, Lindsay Dusin recorded a triple-double (15 kills, 15 digs and 25 assists).
The Lady Bisons earned a second-straight trip to the GAC Volleyball Championship title game. They will meet a familiar foe, Arkansas Tech. The Golden Suns beat the Lady Bisons in last year’s final, in Russellville, in five sets. Harding handed Arkansas Tech its first-ever GAC loss on Sept. 18 when the Lady Bisons won a five-set match in Searcy. They completed a regular-season series sweep on Oct. 30 with a four-set victory.
The GAC Volleyball Championship final will stream live at 2 p.m. on
GreatAmericanConference.com in partnership with the GAC Sports Network.