TECH VOLLEYBALL IMPROVES TO 7-0 ON SEASON WITH TWO WINS ON FIRST DAY OF SOUTHWEST BAPTIST BEARCAT INVITATIONAL

        BOLIVAR, Missouri – Arkansas Tech Volleyball continued its hot start to the 2008 season here Friday as the Golden Suns swept both of its matches in three sets on the first day of the Southwest Baptist Bearcat Invitational.

Friday’s two wins improved Tech’s record to 7-0 on the season. The 7-0 start is the program’s best since opening the 1999 season with a 7-0 mark.

Tech opened the two-day tournament by posting a three-set sweep over Missouri S&T (25-13, 25-20, 25-11) and then concluded the first day with a three-set sweep over the host school, Southwest Baptist (25-20, 25-22, 25-21).

In the first match against Missouri S&T, Tech hit .258 and recorded 34 kills and had five blocks in dispatching the Lady Miners. Leading the way for Tech offensively was sophomore middle blocker Sarah Von Lienen (Lakeland, Tenn.) with nine kills and senior middle blocker Dana Florian (Wilmington, Ill.) added eight kills and hit a team-best .500.

A milestone was set in the win over the Lady Miners as senior setter Kayla Allison (Tulsa, Okla.) became the school’s all-time leader in set assists as she had a match-high 16. The 16 assists pushed her career total to 4,220, which is two better than former Golden Sun Kristen Scoggins (1997-00) notched in her Tech career.

          Leading the defensive charge for the Golden Suns was junior defensive specialist Alexis Gillett (Jackson, Michigan) with nine digs.  Freshman libero Marcela Mascarenhas (Sao Paulo, Brazil) added six digs and freshman defensive specialist Brennae Benda (Woodstock, Ill.) had four digs in the win.  In addition, Mascarenhas added two serving aces in the match.

          The Lady Miners were paced by Lynsey Jorgenson’s five kills and .400 hitting percentage, while Bridget Williams had a match-high 13 digs.

          In the second match against the host team, Tech used a strong defensive effort and solid hitting to hold off the Lady Bearcats and improve to 7-0 on the season.

          Against Southwest Baptist, Tech had 64 digs and recorded five blocks and hit .270, including hitting .448 in posting a 25-20 win in the first set. The 64 digs was a season-high for the Golden Suns.

          Florian led the way for Tech with a match-high 15 kills and hit. 500, while Von Lienen added 13 kills and hit .545. Benda led Tech’s defensive effort with a career-high 15 digs, while Mascarenhas had 13 digs in the three-set win.

          One match after becoming the school’s all-time assist leader, Allison had 37 assists against the Lady Bearcats to increase her career total to 4,257.

          The Lady Bearcats, who fell to 3-2 on the season with the loss, were paced offensively by Rachel Sawyer’s 10 kills, while Kinsey Palmer had nine kills. Marcy Greenwade and Shyrah Perry each had 12 digs to pace SBU’s defensive effort.      

          Tech will conclude play in the tournament on Saturday, Sept. 6, when they face Rockhurst at 10 a.m. and then will conclude the event at 3 p.m. against Wayne State [NE] College.

         -- Tech Athletics --