ADA, Okla. - Landry Rogers recorded personal best numbers on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball, but Southern Arkansas fell just short of a victory against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Thursday night inside the Percefull Fieldhouse in Great American Conference action. The Muleriders started off strong, serving up a dominant two set lead, but the Rangers edged them in sets three and four to force a fifth set where the Muleriders put up a strong but unsuccessful fight.
The Muleriders (3-12, 2-4 GAC) held the Rangers under 20 points in the first two sets (25-16, 25-18) and started the third set with six unanswered points. SAU was met with an 11-1 run by the Rangers to force SAU to fight back the rest of the set. Muleriders fell behind 16-24, but applied pressure to the Rangers to cut the lead to 22-24, but could not complete the job, losing a tough set three (22-25). Set four proved the toughest for Southern Arkansas who allowed NWOSU to go on runs of five and seven unanswered points.
The Riders found it tough to recover after falling behind 10 points, and despite a final push, fell 17-25. After dropping the previous two sets, the Muleriders battled hard in set five, going toe-to-toe throughout all the action, but let up the last two points to fall 15-17 in the final set. The fifth set was highlighted by nine team kills, but the Muleriders were curbed by their 11 attack errors.
Both Mulerider offense and defense were highlighted by Junior Landry Rogers. Rogers recorded a career high 25 kills and 23 digs and a season-high three service aces.
Tonight represents her third 20+ kill match of her career as well as the first time she has eclipsed 20 digs. Other notable action tonight came from junior Morgan Schuster with her .600 attack percentage and 21 assists and sophomore Anna Crittenden who recorded 13 kills and 36 total attacks. Sophomore Samantha Still recorded a season-high 16 kills and junior Emily Larmeu matched her season-high 19 assists.
The Muleriders led in points (104), kills (62), total attacks (196), hitting % (.133), service aces (8) and digs (104). The points, total attacks and digs are all season highs for the team.
Southern Arkansas continues Great American Conference play at 4 p.m. today against Southwestern Oklahoma State in Weatherford, Okla.