Volleyball: Ouachita Stunned by Harding in Final Set
September 20, 2018
ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Despite having two players end the night in double-digit kills the Ouachita Tiger volleyball team fell in five sets to Harding on Tuesday evening.
This is just the second time this season Ouachita (11-5, 2-2 GAC) has lost back-to-back games. Thankfully, the last time it occurred the Tigers responded with a straight sets victory in their next match.
Harding (8-6, 3-0 GAC) got off to a lightning start, winning 12 of the first 14 points in the opening set. The Tigers tried to stop the bleeding a little bit, but quickly found themselves down 20-5 in the opening frame.
A Katie Camp (Plano, Texas) kill at 22-8 sparked some life back into a dormant Ouachita offense. The Tigers responded to the kill with a 6-0 run and closed the gap to 22-13. Even though Harding took the final three points of the set, Ouachita still had momentum going into the second set of play.
In the second set the two teams appeared evenly matched as neither side yielded a point to the other. A kill by Stormi Leonard (Decatur, Texas) gave the Tigers a four-point lead, but slowly Harding worked their way back into the set. Tied at 14 Ouachita needed to ignite and ignite they did as the Tigers blocked three consecutive points to take back the lead. That little boost of energy helped Ouachita take the second set 25-23.
Once again, in the third set the Tigers found themselves in another fight with the Bisons. Each team battled and clawed their way to each point. Back-to-back kills by Tabatha Huckabee (North Richland Hills, Texas) gave the Tigers a 14-11 advantage, but the lead was short lived. On the very next point Harding responded with a 5-0 run to take back the lead.
Ouachita found themselves ahead at 19-18 and Harding appeared to be gaining momentum after a kill by Emily Smit. The Tigers made sure that would not happen as Ouachita closed out the third set on a 5-2 run.
In the fourth set of the night Harding came out looking determined as they took six out of the first nine points in the set. Ouachita responded to the run and after back-to-back Adrianna Nolly (Denton, Texas) kills, the Tigers were only down by a single point. Moments later Nolly notched her third kill in four points to tie the game up at 9-9. Then Harding went on a 14-3 run to take a commanding 23-13 lead over the Tigers.
Ouachita showed that they still had some fight left in them as they held off four consecutive set points. Harding ultimately won the fourth set 25-17.
In the fifth and final set the Tigers found themselves down early in the last frame. The Bisons had jumped out to an 8-3 advantage before Ouachita was able to respond with a counter attack. A kill by camp at 13-9 gave the Tigers hope only being down by three, but back-to-back service errors gave Harding match point at 14-11. Zoe Hardin put the nail in the coffin as Ouachita dropped their second consecutive Great American Conference match of the season.
Harding had three people finish with double-digit kills at the end of the night. Hardin collected 29 kills and five blocks, Madison Poen had 15 kills and 21 digs, while Emma Reeves added 11 kills in the contest. Rachel Heussner finished the night 61 assists and Taylor Lake lead the Bisons with 28 digs.
For the sixth time this season Nolly finished with at least 15 kills in a match. The junior middle blocker also recorded six blocks and hit a team leading .263 on the night. Leonard once again lead the team in assists with 44 and Julianna Mack (Little Rock, Ark.) was just two digs away from tying her career high in digs. The sophomore libero finished with 26 digs in the contest, her fifth career match with 20 or more digs.
Ouachita will have a day to recover before they have to travel across the street to Henderson State on Thursday night. Part one of the Battle of the Ravine is set for a 6:30 p.m. first serve and live stat links can be found at http://www.obutigers.com
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