HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Southern Arkansas benefitted from 41 kills by eight different Lady Muleriders and received 32 assists from senior
Taylor Reaume en route to a season opening 3-0 victory (25-21, 25-11, 25-19) over Stillman College at the UAH Volleyball Classic in Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday afternoon.
It was the Lady Muleriders' (1-0) first season opening win since a 3-2 victory over Cameron University on September 3, 2011.
In the opening set, junior
Gillian Newman produced the first point of the season and her first as a Lady Mulerider with a kill, while sophomore
Alli O'Banion quickly added back-to-back kills to jump start Southern Arkansas.
Reaume assisted on seven of SAU's first eleven points and added a kill before a trio of service aces from junior
Hannah Rice pushed the Lady Mulerider lead to 14-8. Stillman answered quickly and used a 5-0 run to pull within a point, 14-13, before Reaume assisted Lady Mulerider newcomer
Serena LeDuff with her third kill of the set triggering an 8-3 run that put Southern Arkansas up 23-16 in the season-opening set.
A 4-1 run from the Lady Tigers (0-3) cut the SAU lead to 4, before LeDuff ended the set with a kill to give SAU an early 1-0 match lead.
Stillman scored first in the second set, but it was more of the same for the Lady Muleriders as they opened up their offense and saw five players produce kills including three from LeDuff and a pair of kills apiece from O'Banion, seniors
Emilie Aase and
Shelby Lauterbach and junior
Kaitlyn Reiner as the Muleriders raced to a 22-9 advantage in the second set, before Lauterbach sealed a set two win via kill.
Like Rice in set one, Aase connected on three consecutive service aces that pushed the SAU lead to nine, midway through the second set.
Back and forth action highlighted the first half of the final set as Stillman took their latest lead of the match at 13-12 and would tie the decisive set at 19-19 before the Lady Muleriders closed the match on a 6-0 run highlighted by a pair of kills from O'Banion.
As a team, Southern Arkansas produced an attack percentage of .318 and held the Lady Tigers to 18 total kills.
Brittney Johnson led SAU with seven digs, while LeDuff and Rice added six digs apiece.
The Lady Muleriders return to action tonight at the UAH Volleyball Classic with a 7 p.m. matchup with host Alabama-Huntsville. Visit muleriderathletics.com for postgame releases and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with Lady Mulerider Volleyball.
