MONTICELLO, Ark. – Senior Amanda Monge tied a career high with 21 kills and the Southern Arkansas volleyball team attacked at a conference season-high.343 (63-17-134) clip en route to a four-set victory (25-14, 24-26, 25-17, 25-15), successfully sweeping Arkansas-Monticello in the regular season on Tuesday night at Steelman Field House.

"Our offense was clicking on all cylinders," Head Coach Steven Gream said. "Our passers are getting the setter the ball and really letting Taylor [Reaume] do her job and distribute the ball evenly. [Reaume] is in the zone right now where she's comfortable with what our passers are doing, comfortable with our hitters and our hitters are finally comfortable with her. She also had eight kills tonight so they couldn't cheat on her offensively either. We can't look over Henderson State in our next match because they are going to put up a fight. We have to be ready and prepared. It's their senior night so they're going to bring a lot of emotion and wanting to end the season on a good note."

SAU (12-17, 6-7 GAC) took control early in the first set, scoring 10 of the first 13 points. Holding a comfortable 18-11 lead, junior setter Taylor Reaume snuck a dump attack through the Blossom frontline before freshman Alli O'Banion followed with back-to-back aces and sophomores Hailey McNee and Logan Tolbert combined on a block to complete a Lady Mulerider four-point push.

After UAM (13-12, 5-7 GAC) struck back with three straight points, SAU answered with three points of its own to secure the first set 25-14. The Lady Muleriders were paced by four Monge kills in addition to five team aces and three blocks in the first set. SAU also swung at a .368 (11-4-19) clip while halting the UAM offense to a -.087 attacking percentage.

Although the first set was one-sided, the second set would see 12 different tied scores. With UAM serving for the match at 24-22, back-to-back strikes from McNee and Monge tied the set at 24. Blossom attacker Aubrey Harrison would then respond with a kill and an assisted block to seal the second set for UAM.

Similarly to the first set, the Lady Muleriders scored 10 of the first 14 points to jump out to a big lead in the third set. There was no looking back from that point, and SAU took the third set 25-17 behind six Monge kills and a .382 (16-3-34) attacking percentage to take a 2-1 match lead.

After SAU built a 14-8 lead in the fourth set, the Lady Muleriders pulled away even further by scoring the next three points on a Lauterbach kill and back-to-back kills from O'Banion. After the Blossoms cut the lead to five at 19-14, SAU scored the next five points and two points later Monge would put down a UAM overpass for her 21^st kill of the contest.

"I think one of our main goals coming in to this game was to try and get everyone involved," Monge said. "We just kept them guessing. Taylor [Reaume] did an excellent job mixing up the sets. Getting this win pushes us so hard because we know that they have nothing to lose."

Reaume nearly converted on a triple-double with 47 assists, 12 digs and eight kills. McNee contributed with double-digit kills, and Tolbert (9), O'Banion (7) and Lauterbach (6) all contributed to the stellar offensive effort for the Lady Muleriders.

"I could not be more proud of my team," Reaume said. "Everyone did what they were supposed to do, focused at their positions and played Mulerider volleyball. I couldn't have asked for anything else."

The Lady Muleriders attacking percentage of .343 marks the highest in a conference match this season versus a team that was second in opposing hitting percentage in the GAC at .141.

SAU returns to action next Thursday, Nov. 6, at Henderson State in the final conference match of the regular season.