HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Top-seeded Arkansas Tech won its seventh-straight match at the Great American Conference Volleyball Championships – Presented by Subway as the regular-season champion Golden Suns defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State in four sets on Friday from the Bank of the Ozarks Arena.
GAC Volleyball Championships –
Presented by Subway: Quarterfinal #3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
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| #8 Southeastern Oklahoma State (7-23) |
24 |
25 |
14 |
21 |
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| #1 Arkansas Tech (26-6) |
26 |
17 |
25 |
25 |
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| OFFENSIVE LEADERS: |
| Southeastern Oklahoma State: |
Abby Jameson: 21 kills, .213 attack percentage |
| Arianna Baker: 13 kills, 16.0 points scored, .357 attack percentage |
| Alissa Benson: 42 assists |
| Arkansas Tech: |
Hunter Eshnaur: 13 kills, 7 service aces, 21.5 points scored |
| Katie Huff: 14 kills, .414 attack percentage |
| Kaylee Konsella: 11 kills, .333 attack percentage |
| DEFENSIVE LEADERS: |
| Southeastern Oklahoma State: |
Baker: 6 blocks |
| Jameson: 16 digs |
| Benson: 15 digs, 3 blocks |
| Arkansas Tech: |
Kaci Jackson: 11 digs |
| Madison Nagel: 9 digs |
| McCall Wilkins & Konsella: 3 blocks |
FIRST SET HIGHLIGHTS:
The Golden Suns appeared to have control of the opening set as they led 23-18 and 24-21 before the Savage Storm saved three successive set points. Kills by Konsella and Sarita Stegall secured the set for Tech with consecutive kills. Konsella hit .556 in the set as she led the team with five kills. Eshnaur added four kills and two aces. Baker, James and Kristina Bergman combined to hit .444 - the rest of the Savage Storm collected only one kill but committed four errors.
SECOND SET HIGHLIGHTS:
Southeastern took an early 7-3 lead before Arkansas Tech came back and gained an 11-10 advantage. The Savage Storm won seven of the next eight points to take a 17-12 lead; their lead never shrunk below three points. Southeastern outhit Tech .360 to .033. Jameson, Baker and Julia Benford together hit .526 in the set. Eshnaur added three aces to her total.
THIRD SET HIGHLIGHTS:
Arkansas Tech responded with its best attacking set of the contest as the Golden Suns hit .250 and took the set 25-14. Defensively, they limited the Savage Storm to a -.024 percentage. Eshnaur totaled five kills while Huff and Konsella added four kills. Stegall added 10 assists.
FOURTH SET HIGHLIGHTS:
The final set featured nine ties and three lead changes. After the ninth tie, at 18-18, the Golden Suns rattled off five straight points only to see the Savage Storm respond with three straight points. Tech clinched the win on consecutive attack errors. Tech totaled five aces in the set, with Eshnaur collecting two, as well as three more kills. Jameson led the Southeastern offense with seven kills.
NOTABLE:
- * Arkansas Tech advances to the semifinals at GAC Volleyball Championships – Presented by Subway for the fifth-straight year, the first school to do so
- * The 2015 GAC Volleyball Championships are the first to feature three quarterfinal matchups to extend past three sets
- * With her .414 attack percentage, Huff has hit at least .300 in 11 straight matches and has posted a .416 attack percentage over that span
- * Eshnaur, the GAC Freshman of the Year tied the Championship single-match record with seven aces (former Tech setter Amber Cerrillos established the record against Arkansas-Monticello in a 2012 quarterfinal match)
- * Southeastern became the first No. 8 seed to take a set from the No. 1 seed at the GAC Championships
WHAT’S NEXT:
Arkansas Tech will face Southern Arkansas at 6 p.m. on Friday.