Southern Arkansas knocked off East Central Oklahoma in volleyball over the weekend, but fell to Southeastern Oklahoma State.
Records didn’t matter on Friday inside the W.T. Watson Center as both Southern Arkansas and East Central engaged in a thriller of a five-set Great American Conference match that saw the Lady Muleriders prevail late (25-27, 25-15, 17-25, 25-23, 15-11) to snap a five-match losing streak in league play and draw within two games of the eighth and final playoff spot for the conference tournament.
The Lady Muleriders (8-15, 2-8 GAC) powered their offensive attack through true freshman setter Caitlin Murdock who finished with a career-best 50 kills and 11 digs as she posted her first career double-double. Murdock is the first Mulerider setter to hit the half-century assist mark in a match since former SAU student-athlete Katy Cooper notched 63 on November 8, 2016.
Sophomore Morgan Gross hit an impressive .387 (16-4-31) and of her 16 kills, five came in the final set with four produced in consecutive order that helped the Muleriders turn a 9-7 deficit into an 11-9 lead.
Junior Seven Powers logged a career-best 18 kills behind a .286 hit percentage and totaled 20.5 points. True freshman Rylea Brimhall added 13 kills in a .286 attack effort. All three of the hit clips from SAU’s top attackers on Friday rank in the top ten for the club this season. The team’s 63 kills in the win are the second most in a match for SAU this season.
True freshman Camryn Bihary’s 24 digs led three other Muleriders in double digit digs, including senior Bailey Zoss who added a baker’s dozen and recorded two of the team’s four service aces. Southern Arkansas registered nine total blocks; the fifth match this campaign with nine or more, which came in the form of ten block assists and four solos. Powers produced a pair of solo blocks, while Murdock and sophomore Bailey Cagle each delivered three block assists.
Against Southeastern Oklahoma on Saturday lost in four sets (17-25, 25-22, 16-25, 21-25).
The Lady Muleriders (8-16, 2-9 GAC) posted attack percentages of .231, .306, .222, and .257, respectively, and did not commit more than four errors in any set. In the set two victory, Southern Arkansas swung .306 totaling 15 kills to just four attack errors in 36 total attempts.
Leading the offensive attack for SAU on Saturday were Gross and Brimhall. Gross hit .462; the second-highest attack percentage of any Mulerider this season, and led SAU with 14 kills, while Brimhall’s .294 attack clip produced 13 kills. Sophomore Lauren Smith’s seven kills came behind a .417 attack clip and she added a team-best three block assists and the team’s lone solo stuffing.
Murdock delivered 36 of the team’s 42 assists. Bihary led SAU with 18 digs.
The Muleriders led 10-5 in the opening set, before the Savage Storm closed the set on an 18-7 advantage that started with a 9-1 run. Brimhall, Smith and Murdock produced back-to-back-to-back kills on a 4-1 run that closed out the second set after trailing 13-9 early on. With an 18-14 lead, Southeastern Oklahoma State manufactured a 7-2 run to close out the frame in the third set.
The final set saw Brimhall power home a kill to tie the match at 12, but the Savage Storm used an 8-3 run to distance themselves just enough to take the set as a late Mulerider rally came up short.
SAU returns to action on Friday for a Battle of the Timberlands matchup with Arkansas-Monticello.