[September 6, 2008]

By: Houston Taylor

AUSTIN, Texas – Southern Arkansas split matches Friday and Saturday to go 2-2 over the weekend in the St. Edward’s Hilltopper Classic at the Recreation and Convocation Center.

The Lady Muleriders opened Friday with a 3-1 win (14-25, 25-12, 25-21, 25-22) over East Central (Okla.) (0-1), before suffering a 3-0 shutout (23-25, 16-25, 23-25) by No. 14 Emporia State (Kan.) (5-1). Saturday saw SAU open with a 3-2 victory (22-25, 25-20, 16-25, 30-28, 15-12) against Texas A&M-Kingsville (1-7), before closing out play in a hard-fought 3-2 loss (25-22, 19-25, 25-23, 18-25, 6-15) to host St. Edward’s (2-6).

Southern Arkansas got a combined 41 kills from Maggie Ross in their two matches on Saturday, including match-highs of 19 in the win against A&M-Kingsville and 22 in the setback to St. Edward’s. She finished with a total of 58 for the classic and added 11 total blocks. Sarah Bell combined for 41 kills, including a team high 10 in the win against East Central and equaled a match-high 11 in the loss to Emporia State, and 49 digs over the four matches. Veronica Ogbeide tallied 35 kills during the four matches, and had 12 blocks, including eight against East Central.

Mallory McKee led the Lady Muleriders with 72 digs through the matches, including 22 against Texas A&M-Kingsville and 21 in the St. Edward’s match.

SAU (4-4) resumes play Tuesday when they host Tarleton State (Texas) in a 7 p.m. match at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center.