Harding beats UAM, wins share of regular season GAC title
From Harding Sports
Scott Goode, Assistant Athletic Director for Sports Information
SEARCY – The Harding volleyball team defeated Arkansas-Monticello 3-1 (25-16,24-26, 25-15, 25-14) on Thursday to claim its third Great American Conference Regular Season Championship.
Coming into tonight, the Lady Bisons were tied with Ouachita, Arkansas Tech and Oklahoma Baptist for first place in the GAC standings. Ouachita defeated Arkansas Tech and Oklahoma Baptist lost to Southern Nazarene which gave Ouachita and Harding a share of the regular season championship.
Harding has the tie breaker over Ouachita which will give them the No. 1 seed in the upcoming GAC Tournament held in Hot Springs, Ark., Nov. 17-19. The Lady Bisons will face the No. 8 seed Southeastern Oklahoma on Thursday. Time is still yet to be determined.
After the match, the Lady Bisons recognized Abigail Glosup, Sara Smith, and Bianca Trevino for their contributions to the Harding volleyball program.
RECORDS
Harding improves to 21-7 overall and 12-4 in the GAC. Arkansas-Monticello falls to 12-16 overall and 8-8 in the GAC.
SET ONE HIGHLIGHTS
With the first set tied at 10, Harding went on a 7-1 run on three kills to lead 17-11. The Lady Bisons went on to win the set 25-16. Harding had 12 kills in the set and hit .345.
SET TWO HIGHLIGHTS
Arkansas-Monticello jumped out to a 12-7 lead in the third set before Harding battled back on an 8-2 run to lead 15-14. Trailing 22-21, the Lady Bisons went on a 3-0 run to lead 24-22 on two kills by Zoe Hardin. Arkansas-Monticello scored the next four points on two kills by Shay Mitchell to win the set 26-24.
SET THREE HIGHLIGHTS
Harding came out in the third set and led 16-8. Leading 20-14, the Lady Bisons closed the set on 5-1 run on five kills to win 25-15. Harding had 14 kills with only one attack error and went on to hit .500.
SET FOUR HIGHLIGHTS
Harding took a 7-3 early lead in the fourth set until Arkansas-Monticello battled back to pull within one 10-9. The Lady Bisons only allowed the Blossoms to scored five more points as Harding won 25-14. The Lady Bisons had 15 kills in the set and hit .333.
TEAM STATS
It was Harding’s third GAC regular season championship. The Lady Bisons also won in 2012 and 2013.
Harding had 10 team blocks in its second straight match. The Lady Bisons had 13 at Arkansas Tech on Tuesday.
Harding had 56 kills with only 10 attack errors on 121 attempts to hit .380. It was the eighth time this season the Lady Bisons have hit over .300 in a match.
Arkansas-Monticello had 42 kills and Harding forced 25 attack errors as the Blossoms hit .129 in the match.
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Harding was led by Emily Clayton who had 13 kills and hit .435. Zoe Hardin, the reigning GAC Defender of the Week, had 11 kills and five blocks. Emma Reeves added 10 kills for the Lady Bisons.
The Lady Bisons defense was led by Taylor Lake and Madison Poen who each had 15 digs.
Arkansas-Monticello was led by Maggie Pyles who had 12 kills and hit .290. Macy Mitchell led the defense with 19 digs.