[October 30, 2007]

Contact: Houston Taylor, SID

MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas closed its 2007 volleyball season on a high note Tuesday, claiming a thrilling, come-from-behind 3-2 win (27-30, 34-32, 30-23, 29-31, 22-20) over Ouachita Baptist at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center. With the victory, the Lady Muleriders (10-20, 5-7 GSC) end their season winning two consecutive and four of their last six.

Unfortunately, the win wasn’t enough to put SAU into the Gulf South Conference tournament. Even if the Lady Tigers lose Friday at Harding to finish with an identical conference record as Southern Arkansas, the tie-breaker would still go to OBU by virtue of moving to head-to-head game records. Because Ouachita Baptist defeated the Lady Muleriders 3-0 in their first meeting, they will advance as the fourth seed from the West.

SAU was down 7-1 in the fifth and deciding game before using a 13-7 run to knot it at 14. The Lady Tigers (14-21, 5-6 GSC) then moved a point ahead before Southern Arkansas tied it at 15 to force the extra scoring and eventually claim the match.

The Lady Muleriders used a total team effort in picking up the win. Kristina Daily had a team-high 18 kills, while Shelly Jones and Sarah Bell each finished with 16 kills and added double-doubles by picking up 34 and 26 digs, respectively. Bell’s kills and digs were career-highs for the junior, making it her fourth career double-figure kill match and eighth double-figure dig contest. She also had 56 total attacks in the match, a season-high for SAU. Jones’ 34 digs matched her second-best effort in that category, and was the fourth 30-dig match of her career. Red-shirt freshman Maggie Ross added 14 kills and also had a team-high five blocks.

Mallory McKee continued her stellar play on defense, getting on the floor for a match-high 44 digs that set a new Southern Arkansas record. The junior surpassed the old mark of 41 digs set by Lora Meyers in 1993. McKee also ends the year breaking her own record for digs per game in season at 6.08. She now has 13 matches of 30+ digs in her career, including three 40+ matches.

Andrea Spradlin and Kayli Kerr finished with 30 and 27 assists, respectively, in the match, and Kerr added five service aces.

Breanne Garrett pounded a match-high 28 kills in leading OBU. She also had a match-high eight blocks at the net. Brettney Cheatham tossed up 63 assists, and Becky Cunningham led six Ouachita Baptist players in double-figure digs with 37.

The Lady Muleriders also concluded other school records in the match. McKee finishes her junior season as the all-time digs leader with 1,748, and still a season to go. Daily finishes her four-year career as the all-time leader in both attacks and kills, with 2,934 attacks and pounding 1,224 kills.

It was the final match at SAU for Daily, Jones, Kerr, and Spradlin.