Southern Arkansas returned to the volleyball court earlier this week for the first time in two weeks against rivals Arkansas-Monticello. Despite winning the second two sets and holding a 12-8 lead in the fifth, the Cotton Blossoms stormed back at the end to snatch a 3-2 victory away from the Lady Muleriders.
With the first set going 25-14 towards UAM, SAU responded with a 25-15 set win. The Lady Muleriders then won the third set 27-25 before UAM claimed set four 25-21 and set five 15-13.
Morgan Gross led all players with 16 kills. She added six service aces, recorded 15 digs and achieved her second double-double of the season. Abby Bermudez and Landry Rogers each had 10 kills, with attack percentages of .273 and .200, respectively.
In her first full match as libero this season, Bailey Kirk responded with a career-high 20 digs, which was also the most in the match.
Morgan Schuster recorded her second double-double of the season with 47 assists and 11 digs. She became the ninth Mulerider in program history to record 1,000 assists, having reached the milestone in only 31 matches and 112 sets played.
The Lady Muleriders will host Henderson State Tuesday night at the W.T. Watson Center.
SAU is scheduled to play volleyball matches each Tuesday night in March. All 12 teams will qualify for the GAC Championships as conference win/loss percentage will determine seeding.
The higher seeds will host first round and quarterfinal contests on April 6-8, with the final four being hosted on a campus location on April 10-11.