Alva Review-Courier -

ARKADELPHIA, Ark. — In another classic battle between crosstown rivals, Henderson State gave Ouachita Baptist all it could handle on Tuesday night in the Duke Wells Center, but fell in a five-set heartbreaker, 3-2 (25-17, 17-25, 25-18, 21-25, 14-16).

SET ONE: With the score knotted at 7-7, Henderson State put together a 12-5 run to grab a 19-12 lead. The Tigers cut the lead down to 19-15 with three straight points, but HSU used two kills from Adrianna Hartmann, a kill from Violet Williams and an OBU error to stretch the lead back to 23-15 and ultimately pull away for a 25-17 win. The Tigers had nine attack errors in the set, while Hartmann put down four kills for HSU.

SET TWO: The second frame was Ouachita's from the get-go as the Tigers ran out to a quick 12-6 lead. Henderson was never able to get within five points again and fell 25-17 to tie the match 1-1.

SET THREE: The Reddies got back on track in the third behind four early kills from Courtney Bolf and three from Zuzana Ondruskova, as HSU cruised to an 18-8 cushion. Ouachita stormed back by taking eight of the next nine points to cut the lead down to 19-16, but Henderson took six of the final eight, and Bolf finished it off with a kill, to give the Reddies a 25-18 win and a 2-1 advantage in the match. Henderson had 16 kills in the set — seven of which came from Bolf.

SET FOUR: OBU, with its back against the wall, led for most of the fourth set, but after trailing for nearly the entire frame, HSU got three attack errors from the Tigers to tie things up 17-17 with an eye on ending the match there. Ouachita proved to be too much, though, as the Tigers took eight of the final 12 points to win, 25-21, and send the match to a fifth set.

SET FIVE: The fifth was back-and-forth the entire way. OBU started strong and got out to a 5-3 lead, but Henderson responded behind three Tiger errors and three Bolf kills to take six points in a row and seize a 9-5 advantage. Ouachita would not go away, and went on a 7-2 run to steal back a 12-11 lead. The teams traded the next five points, leaving the score at 14-14 and the match hanging in the balance. The next point proved costly for the Reddies, as a late, contested call by the back line judge ruled that an HSU volley did not stay within the boundaries of the net on its way back to OBU's side of the court. The call took away a block from Karlie Greene seconds later which would have given Henderson the lead, 15-14. Instead, it was OBU who took a 15-14 lead, and the Tigers took advantage. On the ensuing serve, Kori Bullard came up with a service ace to end the set in OBU's favor, 16-14, and give them the match, 3-2.

GAME NOTES: Ondruskova had a monster game for HSU, tallying 14 kills with just two errors in the match. Bolf notched another double-double with 20 kills and 14 digs, while Sariah Boney did the same with 17 assists and 16 digs. Abby Blackburn led the Reddies with 31 assists on the night. Sydney Skelton had a team-high 28 digs defensively and Karlie Greene came up with four blocks at the net. The Reddies had a team attacking percentage of .153 and had 16 blocks to the Tiger's six. The loss drops Henderson to 4-9 in Great American Conference play.

UP NEXT: The Reddies are back in action on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. against Harding in the Duke Wells Center.