TECH VOLLEYBALL SPLITS ITS FINAL TWO MATCHES SATURDAY AT SOUTHWEST BAPTIST BEARCAT INVITATIONAL

        BOLIVAR, Missouri – Hours after winning a five-set match (17-25, 25-21, 20-25, 25-18, 15-8) over Rockhurst College to improve to 8-0, the Arkansas Tech Golden Suns dropped their first match of the 2008 campaign here Saturday in four sets to Wayne State [NE] College (25-18, 18-25, 22-25, 16-25).

Entering Saturday’s play, the Golden Suns had yet to drop a set through its first seven victories of the season. The 8-0 start was the program’s best since joining the NCAA Division II level in 1995.

Against Rockhurst (4-3), the Golden Suns fell in two of the first three sets before rebounding to win the last two sets and take the match.

Five Goldens Suns reached double figures in kills against Hawks. Leading the way was freshman outside hitter Laura Farney (Peoria, Ill.) with 13 kills, while sophomore right side hitter Ashlynn Hamrick (Jackson Michigan) added 12 kills and senior outside hitter Rachel Urquhart (Chattam, Ontario) had 11 kills. Sophomore middle blocker Sarah Von Lienen (Lakeland, Tenn.) and senior middle Dana Florian (Wilmington, Ill.) each had 10 kills in the five-set win.

One day removed from setting the school’s careers assists mark, senior setter Kayla Allison (Tulsa, Okla.) added 49 more to her career total. Freshman libero Brennae Benda (Woodstock, Ill.) led the way defensively with a career-high 30 digs. Urquhart had 23 digs for her first double-double of the season and sophomore defensive specialist Kera Dukic (White Lake, Mich.) had 16 digs to go along with three service aces. Freshman libero Marcella Mascarenhas (Sao Paulo, Brazil) added 13 digs.

Rockurst was paced by Katy Hernandez as she had 12 kills and Maggie McGovern and Savannah Leeper each added seven kills. Boomie Williams had 34 assists and Audrey Boese and Andrea Schroeder each had 19 digs in the loss.

In the final match of the tournament against Wayne State, the Golden Suns took the first set 25-18, before falling in the final three sets by scores of 25-18, 25-22 and 25-16. The loss dropped Tech to 8-1 on the season, while Wayne State [NE] improved to 8-0 on the year. Urquhart led the way with 13 kills and 13 digs for her second consecutive double-double, while Allison had 25 assists and Benda led Tech’s defense with 23 digs. Danielle Wessel led the way for the unbeaten Wildcats with 14 kills. Diedra Artz had a match-high 43 assists and Tali Fredrickson had 20 digs.

Tech will return to action on Tuesday, Sept. 9 when they travel to Ada, Okla., for two non-conference matches. The Golden Suns will face East Central [OK] at 4 p.m. and then meet St. Gregory’s at 6 p.m. 

         -- Tech Athletics --