Jennies Go 2-0 in GAC Crossover, Win Over Harding, Arkansas Tech

Box Score Game One | Box Score Game 2 | Season Stats

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. - Jennies volleyball upped their record to 11-1 this season with a pair of wins Friday at the MIAA/GAC Crossover. The Jens swept Harding in the their first match, before defeating Arkansas Tech in a close four-set battle.

Game One: UCM 3, Harding 0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-23)

Reigning two-time MIAA Hitter of the Week Carly Sojka led the Jennies with 11 kills. She recorded her third double-double of the season by also picking up 10 digs. Maddie Jones was one kill shy of double-figures and finished with nine. Kourtney Thompson again centered the offense handing out 28 assists. She also landed four kills and dug out seven attacks. On defense Kylie Hohlen and Annie Reilly each had a team-high 14 digs.

The match started with the teams going back-and-forth playing to a 5-all tie. From there the Jennies went on a huge 13-5 run to take a commanding 18-7 lead. UCM was able to go into cruise control from there and took the opening set 25-15, ending with a kill from Hohlen.

The second set picked up where the first left off with the Jennies racing out to a 10-2 lead. Harding cut the lead to six on a couple of occasions, but UCM's lead was never in jeopardy. The closed the set scoring the final five points to earn the 25-14 win.

UCM looked to put the Lady Bison away in the third set, but Harding would not go quietly. The Jens had an 11-6 lead, but that shrunk to two at 18-16. With the Jennies at match point, 24-21, Harding scored back-to-back points before Sojka ended the match with her 11th kill.

Game Two: UCM 3, Arkansas Tech 1 (22-25, 28-26, 25-16, 25-22)

Sojka again led the offense, picking up her third double-double in as many games and second of the day. She smashed 22 kills and dug out 13 attacks. Jones (13) and Hohlen (14) also finished with double-digit kills. Kourtney Thompson was at the center of it all, she passed out more than 40 assists for the third time this year, picking up 44.

Reilly was the defensive standout. She set a new career-high with 34 digs. Also stepping up defensive was Haley Thompson who knocked five total blocks.

The opening set was a series of spurts. The Jennies started hot with the first four points of the set, before the Golden Suns came right back and evened things up 6-6. UCM regained the lead utilizing a 7-1 run to go in front 15-13. The Jennies took their largest lead, 19-15 and appeared to be on their way to a lead. The Golden Suns had other ideas and quickly tied the set, 20-20 and scored the final four points of the frame to jump out to a 1-0 lead with a 25-22 set win. Reilly picked up 10 digs in the opening set, one of two sets with double-figure digs.

Set No. 2 was much like the first, with neither team giving in. The Jennies again climbed out to a lead at 14-8, but Arkansas Tech fought back to within one, 20-19. The Jennies got kills from Sojka and Hohlen to go back up three, 22-19, but could put ATU away. The Golden Suns tied the match on four occasions at 23, 24, 25 and 26-all. UCM finally was able to put together back-to-back points on a Sojka kill and ATU attack error to win the set 28-26 and even the match at one apiece. Sojka and Jones both landed six kills in the set.

Looking to go up two sets to one, set No. 3 was all UCM. After taking their first lead at 5-4 the Jennies never looked back on their way to a 25-16 win. Up only one, 10-9, the Jennies scored five straight points to open up a six-point edge and the Golden Suns couldn't recover.

The fourth set was another back-and-forth affair. Up by five, 16-11, ATU scored four straight to cut it to one, 16-15. After the Jennies pushed the lead back to four, helped out by a couple of ATU attack errors, the Golden Suns again scored four straight and evened the set at 21-21. Coming out of a UCM time out, the Jennies scored four of the final five points to take the set and the match, 25-22. The Jens got two kills from Sojka and another from Hohlen in the final plays.

The Jennies play their final match of the MIAA/GAC Crossover tomorrow morning against Southern Nazarene with first serve commencing at 9 a.m.