MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas snapped a two-match skid with a 3-1 win over Henderson State in Great American Conference volleyball action Thursday at the W.T. Watson Athletic Center, with scores of 27-25, 25-11, 22-25 and 25-22.
 
The win also put the Lady Muleriders (18-8, 9-2 GAC) back on the winning side in league play after dropping their previous two conference matches to Arkansas Tech and Harding, and gave them a season sweep of the Lady Reddies (5-21, 1-10 GAC), having also beating them 3-0 in Arkadelphia in September.
 
Junior outside hitter Courtney Geesing (Montrose, Colo.) led SAU with a match-high 17 kills, while hitting .424, and senior hitter Courtney Smith (Mansfield, Texas) tallied 16 kills with a .464 attack percentage.  Junior outside hitter Denise De Vine (Lake Elsinore, Calif.) finished with 12 kills.
 
Southern Arkansas hit .276 as a team, buoyed by a .593 percentage in the second set when they were 16 of 27 in attacks, with no errors.  They totaled 61 kills to HSU's 45, and limited their visitors to a .167 hitting percentage.  The Lady Muleriders also had 12 service aces in the match, getting three apiece from De Vine and Geesing, while senior middle hitter Vanessa Ascencio (Montebello, Calif.) had two.
 
Junior setter Klaire Blasco Vine (Downey, Calif.) tossed up 44 assists to her teammates, and defensively, also had 11 digs.
 
Junior libero Lauren Woods (Kennedale, Texas) posted a match-high 25 digs, De Vine added 19, and Geesing 15.
 
Henderson State got 16 kills and three blocks from Ty Lindberg, and 10 kills and three blocks from Sarah Williams.  Malorie Kelly had 21 digs and five service aces.
 
The event served as SAU's fifth annual participation in the “Dig for the Cure” match to raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research.  They recorded 89 digs in the contest, their third-best total of the season, with donors pledging an amount per dig, and also sold t-shirts and solicited other donations in raising approximately $626.
 
Southern Arkansas takes another break from GAC play this weekend, traveling Saturday to San Antonio, Texas, for a pair of matches.  They face Oklahoma Panhandle State at 2 p.m., before taking on host St. Mary's at 4 p.m.