GOLDEN SUNS SET FOR FRIDAY'S GSC VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT OPENER AGAINST NORTH ALABAMA

         RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Arkansas Tech Volleyball is set to compete this coming weekend at the 2007 Gulf South Conference Volleyball Tournament held at Rhodes Field House on the campus of GSC West Division champion, Harding University.

Tech, who enters the tournament with a 22-12 overall record and finished third in the GSC’s West Division with an 8-4 record, opens the tournament with a 5 p.m. match on Nov. 9 against North Alabama (19-15 overall, 9-3 GSC) in the third of four quarterfinal matches. UNA, the three-time defending GSC Tournament champions, are the No. 2 seed out of the GSC East Division.

On Saturday, Nov. 10, the four Friday winners will meet in the semifinals at 12 and 2:30 p.m. and the semifinal winners will meet in the league’s championship match at 7:30 p.m. that same day. The winner of the GSC Tournament receives the league’s automatic berth in the NCAA Division II Volleyball Tournament.

“We are excited about getting the chance to compete in postseason play,” Tech Head Volleyball Coach Kristy Bayer said Thursday on the eve of Friday’s tournament opener. “We were pleased with the way we played during the regular season, but we’re ready to get after it tomorrow against North Alabama.”

Bayer said that her team’s practices this week have been the best they been all season.

“Our practices this week leading up to the tournament have been excellent and the players have really been focused and consistent with their effort,” the fourth-year Tech coach added.

The Golden Suns enter this weekend’s GSC Tournament as the league’s No. 1 blocking team as they average 2.59 blocks per game and are second in the league in opponents hitting percentage at .149. In addition, Tech is fifth in the league in kills (15.12 kpg) and sixth in hitting percentage (.216).          On the season, Tech has recorded 316 total blocks, which is the fifth-best mark in the school’s Division II era and have had four players record at least 300 kills and 700 attacks.

          Leading the way for Tech heading into the tournament is the foursome of junior outside hitter Racheal Urquhart (Chatham, Ont.), junior middle blocker Dana Florian (Wilmington, Ill.), junior setter Kayla Allison (Tulsa, Okla.) and freshman middle blocker Sarah Von Lienen (Lakeland, Tenn.). Urquhart, who is fifth on the school’s career kill chart and second on the career digs list, is averaging 3.64 kills and 3.01 digs per game and has had 15 double-doubles, while Florian is averaging 3.18 kills and 1.11 blocks per game and currently stands third on the school’s career Division II block chart. Allison, who has recorded a team-best 18 double-doubles and is 122 assists shy of breaking the school’s career assist mark (4,233 is the record), is averaging 10.89 assists, 1.09 kills and 2.98 digs per game and Von Lienen, who was named the GSC West Division Freshman of the Year, has recorded a team-best 152 blocks (1.25 bpg), which sets a new school single-season Division II era record and she is also averaging 2.56 kills and is hitting .262 on the season.

          Meanwhile, Tech’s opponent, North Alabama, enters the tournament with a chance to still earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament despite its 19-14 overall record. The Lady Lions are ranked sixth in this week’s NCAA D-II South Central Region poll and enter the tournament having won four of its last seven matches.

          UNA is second in the league statistics in service aces (2.23 per game), third in the league in kills (15.40 kpg), fourth in assists (13.46 apg) and is fifth in hitting percentage (.219).

          Leading the way for UNA is senior outside hitter Danielle Palasak. Palasak, who has been named the East Division Offensive Player of the Week four times this season, is averaging 4.52 kills and 2.65 digs and is hitting .229 on the season. In addition to Palasak, junior middle blocker Whitney Sanders is averaging 3.49 kills per game and is third in the league in hitting percentage at .317, while junior libero Jessica Hansen is averaging 5.50 digs per game and is second in the league in aces as she averages 0.59 per game.

          “UNA has a lot of tradition and success in the postseason and we’re excited to play them,” said Bayer. “They are very similar to us in terms of playing style and player personnel.”  

Besides Tech-UNA, the other quarterfinals matches on Friday are Henderson State (21-9 overall, 10-2 GSC), the No. 2 seed from the West Division facing West Alabama (27-5 overall, 8-4 GSC), the No. 3 seed from the East Division at 12 p.m. Following that match, West Florida (29-4 overall, 12-0 GSC), the No. 1 seed from the East Division and 24th-ranked team in the latest CSTV/AVCA Division II Top 25 Coaches’ Poll, will meet Ouachita Baptist (14-22 overall, 5-7 GSC), the No. 4 seed from the West Division at 2:30 p.m. and then Harding (25-8 overall, 11-1 GSC), the No. 1 seed from the West Division, will conclude the first round at 7:30 p.m. against West Georgia (24-11 overall, 6-6 GSC), the No. 4 seed from the East Division. 

Tech enters the tournament having won eight of its last 12 matches, including winning two of its final three regular season matches, with the only loss coming in the season finale to Henderson State in Arkadelphia. On the season, the Golden Suns are 3-5 against teams that are in this season’s GSC Tournament. Tech went 2-0 against Ouachita Baptist, 1-1 against Henderson State, 0-1 against both West Florida and West Georgia and 0-2 against Harding.

GSC Volleyball Tournament Notes

         -- Tech Athletics --