MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas volleyball team, thanks in part to a season-high 13 service aces, swept past visiting Williams Baptist, 3-0, in non-conference play at the W.T. Watson Center on Tuesday evening.
 
The strong service game for the Lady Muleriders (11-10) started in the first set as they racked up an impressive seven service aces. All but one of those service aces also came from one player as sophomore setter Savannah Pillow had six.
 
Even more impressive than Pillow's total number of aces in that opening set was when she got them as all six came near the end of the match. With the score 16-14 in favor of SAU, Pillow notched her first ace to put SAU up 17-14. A kill by Alli O'Banion and an attack error by Williams Baptist's Madison Laubach pushed the Lady Mulerider advantage to 19-14. From there, Pillow nearly closed out the set herself as her next five serves went for aces to bring the set to set-point. A service error by Pillow kept the set going, but Pillow would help close it out still as she assisted O'Banion on a kill for the 25th point.
 
Set two was a blowout as the Lady Muleriders beat the Lady Eagles (11-11) 25-10. In the set, SAU held WBC to a 0% attack percentage while the Lady Muleriders registered a 41% hitting clip; powered by 15 kills.
 
Set three saw the Lady Eagles jump out to an early 9-4 lead over the Lady Muleriders. WBC would maintain a lead over SAU throughout the set and took an advantage as large as eight points, 20-12, before the Lady Muleriders began to mount a furious comeback.
 
Once falling behind 20-12, the Lady Muleriders went on a 4-0 run to cut their deficit in half, 20-16. From there, the Lady Muleriders would continue to battle back into the set closing the gap to a single point, 23-22 following a 3-0 run. WBC would get the next point to give them set-point and threaten to extend the match, but a kill by Aarika Froehlich staved that off.
 
On the ensuing serve, SAU's LeDuff would find the back corner unpatrolled by Lady Eagles for a service ace to bring the set square at 24-all. A set error by WBC followed, giving SAU their first lead in the entire set. Now serving for the match, LeDuff registered another service ace to seal the deal, giving SAU the 3-0 sweep over Williams Baptist.
 
Statisitically, LeDuff led all players in kills with 11 with Shelby Lauterbach next in line with eight. In terms of assists, Pillow notched 12 assists after she started the opening set as the setter for the Lady Muleriders and Taylor Reaume collected 21 over the final two sets. In terms of digs, Hannah Rice led the way with 14 followed by Paige Mays with eight.
 
The Lady Muleriders will now prepare for a big weekend of conference play as they remain at home and play host to Oklahoma Baptist on Friday, October 16 at 6 p.m. followed by a Saturday, October 17 meeting with Southern Nazarene at 2 p.m.