VOLLEYBALL POSTS THREE-SET WIN AT SOUTHERN ARKANSAS

         MAGNOLIA, Arkansas – Arkansas Tech Volleyball returned to Gulf South Conference action here Tuesday night by posting a three-set win over Southern Arkansas (25-21,25-17,25-23) at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.

The win, coupled with Henderson State’s four-set home loss Tuesday to Arkansas-Monticello, put the Golden Suns (19-10 overall, 6-2 GSC) into sole possession of second place in the GSC West Division standings heading into its home match Thursday with first-place Harding. UAM is 5-2 in league play and is in third place.

Tuesday’s three-set sweep wasn’t an easy one for the Golden Suns as the Lady Muleriders (1-28 overall, 0-8 GSC) pushed Tech to the limit in two of the three sets.

For Tech, they came out quick and tried to force the other team to make mistakes. In the first set, which saw eight ties and three lead changes, Tech was lead by the two-time reigning GSC West Division Offensive Player of the Week, middle blocker Sarah Von Lienen (Lakeland, Tenn.). Von Lienen had an impressive seven kills in the first set alone. It was even after a kill by Von Lienen to give Tech the lead after a 19-19 tie and another kill by the junior to finish the first set.

In the second set it was all Tech, as the Golden Suns hit .316, while holding the Lady Muleriders to a .125 hitting percentage and only allowing nine kills. After an early kill by Von Lienen put Tech up 4-3, they extended their lead to as much as nine points. Tech went on finish the set 25-17 to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The third set was one that got away for SAU as they led by as much as eight after an attack error by freshman outside hitter Kelsey Cheatham (Denton, Texas) to leave the score at 16-9. Following Cheatham’s errors, Tech came charging back as they finally took the lead at 21-20 on a kill by sophomore outside hitter Marcela Mascarenhas (Sao Paulo, Brazil). The score would be tied three more times until two kills by sophomore outside hitter Laura Farney (Morton, Ill.) would close out the match for a tough Tech victory.

On the night, Von Lienen had 17 kills on 26 attempts, while just having two attack errors, leaving her with a solid .577 attack percentage. In addition to Von Lienen, Farney posted her 12th double-double with 13 kills and 13 digs on the night and sophomore libero Brennae Benda (Woodstock, Ill.) recorded 14 digs. The 14 digs put Benda tied for eighth on Tech’s single-season record book for double-figure dig matches as she has now had 20 on the season. Junior setter Kera Dukic (White Lake, Mich.) had 35 assists in the match and moved up to ninth on the school’s all-time list in career assists.

SAU was paced by Danielle Sneed, Kaci Matthews, and Courtney Smith who all had seven kills in the loss.

Tech returns to action on Thursday as they welcome Harding (21-5 overall, 6-1 GSC) to Tucker Coliseum for a 7 p.m. match. The match will be Tech’s “Pink Out” Night for Breast Cancer Awareness and it will also be the GSC Match of the Week. Harding picked up a four-set win over the Golden Suns on Sept. 29 in Searcy.

Southern Arkansas Box Score 

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