MAGNOLIA, Ark. – The Southern Arkansas Lady Mulerider Volleyball team picked up a pair of wins on Tuesday evening inside the W.T. Watson Athletic Center as they defeated Arkansas-Monticello in five sets (16-25, 25-17, 25-15, 20-25, 15-10), before sweeping Central Baptist College (25-12, 25-11, 25-8) in the nightcap to conclude play at their annual "Dig Pink" Tri-Match.
 
The Lady Muleriders' (15-12, 6-6 GAC) win over Arkansas-Monticello pushes them back to .500 in Great American Conference play and keeps them in the thick of a conference race for seeding as the 2015 Great American Conference Championship presented by Subway awaits in mid-November.
 
In the opening match of the evening, Southern Arkansas attacked at .350 or better in three of their five sets against the Blossoms, including the fifth set where the Lady Muleriders swung at clip of .444, delivering eight kills and committing zero errors. Tied at six in the decisive fifth set, senior Shelby Lauterbach produced two kills, while sophomore Savannah Pillow delivered with three service aces on a 5-0 run that pushed SAU to a match win.
 
Serena LeDuff recorded her sixth 20+ kill match of the season with 21 against the Blossoms, while five such matches have come in the past six games. Sophomore Alli O'Banion delivered with 14 kills and Lauterbach finished with 11.
 
Senior setter Taylor Reaume logged 54 assists, her fifth 50+ assists match this season, and also eclipsed the 1,000-assist mark for the season during the match. Defensively, a trio of Lady Muleriders recorded a pair of blocks each as O'Banion, junior Kaitlyn Reiner and senior Emilie Aase all paced the SAU front line. The back row was led by juniors Hannah Rice and Paige Mays as the classmates recorded a combined 40 digs.
 
UAM defeated CBC in the second match, while the evening's finale saw more of the same from the Lady Muleriders as Southern Arkansas attacked at an average of .408, that included a second-set swing percentage of .706.
 
Pillow facilitated an offense (25 digs) that saw freshman Aarika Froehlich deliver with a career-high eight kills and an attack percentage of .636. LeDuff added four service aces, while Rice chipped in with three.
 
The Lady Muleriders will return to the court on Tuesday, November 3, as they begin the first match of a three-game conference road-swing in Searcy, Arkansas. First-serve against the Lady Bisons is scheduled for 6 p.m.
 
Be sure to check out muleriderathletics.com for more information including future updates, match recaps, and the coach's show with head coach Steven Gream.