Box Score Box Score
CONWAY, ARK – In a tightly-contested Southland Conference match, the Southeastern volleyball team took Central Arkansas down to the wire before falling short in the fifth set.
Two of the sets, including the fifth and final set, carried past initial set point. The Lady Lions dropped their final match of the season 22-25, 28-26, 25-17, 20-25, 14-16.
Southeastern (5-28, 1-15 Southland) obliterated its previous season-high for blocks as the Lady Lions recorded 17 total blocks.
Donald recorded a .302 attack percentage to lead Southeastern. Freshman
Elizabeth Ramee finished with 11 kills while
Lindsey Young (42 assists, 12 digs) and
Paige Dollison (10 kills and block assists) finished with double-doubles.
Taylor Bucker (14 digs) and
Megan McMillin (11 digs) aided the Southeastern defensive effort.
Southeastern jumped out to a big lead in the first set, 15-7, as a pair of
Arianne Cruckshank's three service aces sparked the Lady Lions on a 12-2 run. The Sugar Bears, however, answered with a 15-2 run. A Ramee kill and a pair of UCA attack errors allowed Southeastern to tie the set, 22-22, but Taylor Hammonds finished off the set with a kill for the Sugar Bears.
The second set was more nip-and-tuck than the previous as the teams combined for 12 tie scores and six lead changes, the most of the match. UCA held the largest lead of the set, 21-17. The Lady Lions recorded 17 kills as a team in the set.
Southeastern's strong play continued into the third set as the Lady Lions opened a five point lead only to extend the margin to eight. One of Donald's Southeastern season-high 16 kills pushed the lead to 19-11. Back-and-forth play continued through the remainder of the set, but the Lady Lions maintained their eight-point advantage.
The Sugar Bears righted some earlier hitting struggles as they hit .447 in the fourth set, but Southeastern answered with their best hitting performance of the evening (.448 attack percentage). The two teams combined for four hitting errors (just one by the Lady Lions) in the set.
In the fifth, and final set, there were four lead changes and six tie scores. Southeastern had a 14-13 lead, but a pair of kills by Jessica Nagy helped propel UCA to the eventual outcome.
UCA (16-14, 10-6 Southland) had five players finish with double-digit kills and three more players record double-digit digs. Nagy (19 kills), Scout Brooks (17 kills) and Alicia Dittrich powered the Sugar Bear attack. Cristin Curl led UCA in digs (29).
