Alva Review-Courier -

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas Volleyball entered Tuesday's tri-match inside the W.T. Watson Center having lost nine-consecutive matches, but behind a resilient effort to rally from two sets down to beat Arkansas-Monticello (24-26, 21-25, 25-20, 25-20, 15-10) in Great American Conference action coupled with a dominating straight-sets win (25-6, 26-24, 25-8) over Williams Baptist in the nightcap, the Muleriders concluded the evening with a pair of wins as several student-athletes delivered impressive performances.

Southern Arkansas (5-10, 1-3 GAC) produced its two highest team attack percentages this season in the pair of wins: a .238 (68-24-185) in the five-set thriller over UAM and a season-high .297 (34-12-74) in the sweep of WBU. In the win over the Eagles, freshman setter Caitlin Murdock produced half of SAU's season-high dozen service aces, including five-in-a-row in the third set. Her six aces in the win are an individual team-high in a match this season.

The Muleriders improve to 5-2 inside the W.T. Watson Center in 2018 and will play seven more times in Magnolia this season.

Arkansas-Monticello (2-15, 0-4 GAC)

Both teams entered the day's opener in search of their first GAC win and after two sets of play, it appeared that the Blossoms would snap their losing streak first as they toppled SAU 26-24 in set one and 25-21 in the second set to take the momentum.

However, there was no panic for the Muleriders as the squad produced back-to-back 25-20 set wins to force a decisive fifth set that they would take 15-10 for their first league win of the season.

In the third and fourth frames, SAU combined for 30 kills, while forcing the Blossoms into team attack clips of .082 and .042 respectively to force the fifth set.

In the fifth set, it was all Southern Arkansas as the Muleriders powered a .600 team attack percentage behind 12 kills and no errors in 20 total attacks.

Freshman Rylea Brimhall posted a career-high 21 kills as a result of a highly-efficient attack percentage of .419 (21-3-43); committing just three errors in 43 attempts. The 21 kills stand as a season-best mark for any Mulerider this campaign as she is the first to deliver at least 20 in a match.

Sophomore Bailey Cagle was as impressive as she committed just three errors in 34 attempts, while delivering 13 kills at a .294 attack clip. Junior Seven Powers and sophomore Morgan Gross each delivered ten or more kills as they combined for 21.

In Tuesday's opener, freshman Lexi Kruse displayed a ton of grit as the rookie continuously battled through an injury to post a career-best and team-season high 45 assists.

Classmate Camryn Bihary finished a dig shy of her career-best mark of 28 digs. Four other Muleriders recorded ten or more digs with sophomore Alana Perez following with 19, while Kruse added 15 in a double-double effort.

Sophomore Lauren Smith delivered three block assists, while three other Muleriders recorded a pair of block assists each.

Williams Baptist (2-13)

SAU breezed in the first and third sets combining for 20 kills to just six errors as a team behind .333 and .350 attack percentages.

In the second set, Williams Baptist carried a late lead as the Eagles held a 19-11 advantage before the Muleriders rallied off 15 of the game's next 20 points to secure the second set. An 11-1 run by Southern Arkansas highlighted the frame, while a pair of kills from freshman Abby Bermudez and kills from sophomore Morgan Gross and Brimhall closed the door on the Eagles in set two.

Murdock averaged ten assists per set in the win as she finished with a career-best 31; a three-set season-high for SAU.

Cagle and Brimhall combined for 17 kills as Cagle swung a hot .571 (9-1-14). Bermudez's seven kills came without any errors as she hit .700 in ten attempts.

Bihary and Perez combined for 22 digs.

UP NEXT

Southern Arkansas hits the road for a pivotal Great American Conference clash with Harding on September 20 at 6 p.m. in Searcy. Live coverage links will be available at http://www.MuleriderAthletics.com.