HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Southern Arkansas punched its ticket to the semifinals of the Great American Conference Volleyball Championships – Presented by Subway by defeating Harding for the third time this season, 3-2 in Friday’s fourth quarterfinal contest from Bank of the Ozarks Arena. The Lady Muleriders advanced to the semifinals for the first time since making consecutive appearances in 2011 and 2012.
GAC Volleyball Championships –
Presented by Subway: Quarterfinal #4 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| #5 Harding (15-16) |
25 |
22 |
25 |
22 |
13 |
| #4 Southern Arkansas (19-13) |
13 |
25 |
21 |
25 |
15 |
| OFFENSIVE LEADERS: |
| Harding: |
Sara Smith: 12 kills, .243 attack percentage, 3 service aces |
| Zoe Hardin: 11 kills, .333 attack percentage, 16.0 points scored |
| Molly Howard: 12 kills, 2 service aces, 16.5 points scored |
| Southern Arkansas: |
Serena LeDuff: 20 kills |
| Shelby Lauterbach: 15 kills |
| Taylor Reaume: 48 assists |
| DEFENSIVE LEADERS: |
| Harding: |
Hardin: 9 blocks |
| Molly Howard: 23 digs, 5 blocks |
| Abigail Glosup: 23 digs |
| Southern Arkansas: |
Hannah Rice: 44 digs |
| Kaitlyn Reiner: 6 digs, 5 blocks |
| Paige Mays: 19 digs |
FIRST SET HIGHLIGHTS:
After trailing 10-9, Harding seized control of the set by scoring 16 of 19 points to score the most lopsided set margin of the first day of the GAC Championships. The Lady Bisons hit .242 and held the Lady Muleriders to a -.026 percentage. Howard hit .500 and added four digs. Smith totaled two aces, a kill, two digs and a block. Only one player from SAU hit above .000 in the set and Rice collected seven digs.
SECOND SET HIGHLIGHTS:
The second set featured nine ties and six lead changes. SAU opened with a 7-3 lead; Harding followed with six straight points only to see the Lady Muleriders respond with eight of the next 11 points. The Lady Bisons held a 22-20 lead before the Lady Muleriders won the final five points of the set. After committing 10 errors in the first set, SAU hit .244 with only three errors. LeDuff and Lauterbach combined for 10 kills and a .333 attack percentage. Reaume added 11 assists.
THIRD SET HIGHLIGHTS:
Harding fell behind 4-0, but after taking a 10-7 lead, the Lady Bisons allowed the Lady Muleriders to come back and hold a 16-14 advantage. A five-point burst gave the Lady Bisons the lead and they closed out the set by winning the final four points. After tallying three digs in the opening two sets combined, Harding’s Taylor Lake picked up six in the set while Hardin notched four kills without an error. Rice continued to pile up the digs as she collected 11 of the 30 SAU totaled.
FOURTH SET HIGHLIGHTS:
The fourth set opened with Harding taking an early 8-7 lead. SAU answered with six straight points and never surrendered the lead. The Lady Mulerider defense forced the Lady Bisons to hit -.023 and commit nine errors. LeDuff tallied four kills without an error. The rest of the SAU squad hit .026. Rice reached the 40-dig mark for the night with 14 digs in the set.
FIFTH SET HIGHLIGHTS:
The fifth set saw an intensely close match as only five times in the set did either team have a lead larger than two points. LeDuff’s 20th kill closed out the match. SAU hit .241 in the set. Glosup tallied seven digs for the Lady Bisons.
NOTABLE:
- * From 2011 to 2014, teams that won the first set of a GAC Volleyball Championship match won 25 of the 28 matches; on Friday, teams that won the opening set won just one of the four contests
- * Higher seeds have won the last 16 GAC Championship quarterfinal matches
- * Southern Arkansas and Harding played just the third five-set quarterfinal match in GAC Championship history
- * Southern Arkansas finished the season 3-0 vs Harding; in the previous four years, Harding owned a 7-0 mark vs SAU
- * Rice set the GAC Championship single-game record for digs (44) and totaled the second-most digs in any GAC match in league history (Arkansas Tech’s Madison Nagel had 48 against Harding on 9/23/14)
- * LeDuff, the GAC Newcomer of the Year, set the GAC Championship single-game record with 74 attacks (Harding’s Mollie Arnold had 69 vs Ouachita in a 2013 semifinal match)
- * Harding tied the GAC Championship single-game record with 14 blocks (most recently set by Southern Nazarene vs Southeastern Oklahoma State in a 2014 semifinal match)
- * Harding lost in the quarterfinal round for the first time in the GAC
WHAT’S NEXT:
Southern Arkansas will face Arkansas Tech at 6 p.m. on Friday.