KEARNEY, Neb. – The No. 8 seed Harding volleyball team fell to the ninth-ranked Concordia-St. Paul, the No. 4 seed, Friday 3-1 (19-25, 25-14, 25-14, 25-13) in the semifinals of the NCAA Central Region Tournament hosted by Nebraska-Kearney.

Harding defeated the host team and the third-ranked team Nebraska-Kearney Thursday to advance to the semifinals. It was Harding’s and the Great American Conference first ever win in the NCAA Tournament.

Harding ends its season with a 28-6 record and the loss snapped a 14 match winning streak.

Concordia-St. Paul improves to 24-8 overall and will play Washburn Saturday for the central region championship.

FIRST SET

Trailing 5-4 in the first set, Harding went on a 9-1 run to lead 13-6. Concordia-St. Paul pulled within two, 18-16, but the Lady Bisons went on a 7-3 run to win the set 25-19. Harding had 11 kills in the set and held the Golden Bears to hitting .048.

SECOND SET

Concordia-St. Paul bounced back and took a 9-3 lead in the second set. The Golden Bears went on to win the set 25-14. Concordia-St. Paul had 17 kills in the set.

THIRD SET

Concordia-St. Paul continued its momentum in to the third set when it jumped out to a 14-3 lead. The Golden Bears won the set 25-14. Concordia-St. Paul had 17 kills and hit .400 in the set.

FOURTH SET

Leading 12-7, Concordia-St. Paul went on an 8-0 run to lead 20-7. The Golden Bears won the set 25-13. Concordia-St. Paul had 18 kills and hit .333 in the set.

STATS

Harding

– Zoe Hardin led Harding with nine kills and six blocks.

– Katherine Cowart and Taylor Lake each had nine digs.

– Rachel Heussner had 23 assists, eight digs and four blocks.

– Harding hit .106 in the match.

Concordia-St. Paul

– Kennedy Brady had 27 kills for the Golden Bears.

– Sara Macek had 16 kills and Brooklyn Lewis had 11 kills.

– Tori Hanson had 19 digs.

– Concordia-St. Paul had 64 kills, 30 attack errors and hit .234.

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ALVA, Okla. – The Harding volleyball team had a season-high 19 team blocks as it defeated Northwestern Oklahoma 3-1 (25-15, 22-25, 25-16, 25-20) Saturday in Great American Conference action.

The Lady Bisons improve to 13-7 overall and 8-1 in the GAC.

Northwestern Oklahoma falls to 15-9 overall and 4-1 in the GAC.

FIRST SET

Leading 17-13 in the first set, Harding went on a 7-2 run to win the set 25-15. The Lady Bisons held Northwestern Oklahoma to hitting .073 in the set.

SECOND SET

With the second set tied at 16, Northwestern Oklahoma went on a 7-1 run to lead 23-17. Harding pulled within one 23-22 after a 5-0 run and then after two Lady Bison attack errors the Rangers won the set 25-22. Northwestern Oklahoma had 16 kills in the set.

THIRD SET

Harding jumped out to a 13-6 lead in the third set and went on to win the set 25-16. Harding had 13 kills and hit .379.

FOURTH SET

Trailing 14-10 in the fourth set, Harding went on a 15-6 run to win the set 25-20. The Lady Bisons forced nine attack errors in the fourth set.

STATS

Harding

–          Zoe Hardin led Harding with 14 kills and seven blocks.

–          Emma Reeves had 11 kills, no attack errors and hit .423. She also had five blocks.
–          Annesly Young had a career-high nine blocks in two sets.

–          Taylor Lake had 28 digs.

Northwestern Oklahoma

–          Kiauna Clark led Northwestern Oklahoma with 15 kills.

–          Tobi Barker led the defense with 12 digs.

UP NEXT

Harding will play its final non-conference match of the season Tuesday at home against Lyon. First serve is at 6 p.m.

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