[October 23, 2007]

Contact: Houston Taylor, SID

MONTICELLO, Ark. – Southern Arkansas piled it on Arkansas-Monticello in the first game of their Gulf South Conference volleyball match Tuesday at Steelman Fieldhouse, cruising to a 30-19 win, but the Cotton Blossoms rebounded to claim a 3-1 victory with scores of 30-22, 31-29, and 30-25 in the final three frames.

The loss denied the Lady Muleriders from taking a season sweep of UAM, having defeated them in a 3-0 shutout in Magnolia in late September.

Arkansas-Monticello got a match-high 21 kills from Taura Rush, while Nicole Ferguson chipped in 18. Maegan Martin had 52 assists and added one of eight Cotton Blossom service aces on the night. Stephanie Hatten had 27 digs, Martin finished with 22, and Kameshia Melton had five blocks.

SAU was led by Shelly Jones’ 14 kills, Kristina Daily pounded 12, and Maggie Ross put 11 down. Daily’s 12 kills now leaves her four shy of tying the school career mark of 1,183. Andrea Spradlin and Kayli Kerr put up 28 and 23 assists, respectively.

Junior Mallory McKee matched her career-high with 40 digs on the night. Ironically, her previous 40-dig match also came at UAM in her freshman season of 2005. McKee now has 92 total digs in her three matches played in Monticello. Again, McKee narrowly missed the Southern Arkansas match record of 41 digs set by Lora Meyers in 1993.

Jones added 28 digs in the match, and Ross and Daily each finished with five blocks.

The Lady Muleriders lost a chance to pick up a game on Ouachita Baptist in the fight for the final GSC West Division berth in the post-season conference tournament as the Lady Tigers (5-5 GSC) were beaten Tuesday by Henderson State. SAU, at 4-6 in the league, still remains just a game back, but must play at Henderson State on Thursday, while OBU doesn’t see conference action again until facing Southern Arkansas in Magnolia next Tuesday in the Lady Muleriders’ final GSC match. Ouachita Baptist wraps up their GSC season November 2 at Harding.

SAU’s Thursday match against the Lady Reddies begins at 7 p.m. Southern Arkansas will then host Texas College Sunday in a 3 p.m. match that will serve as senior day, before closing out the regular season against OBU.