HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Southern Arkansas Volleyball needed five sets (13-25, 25-22, 21-25, 25-22, 15-13) and 224 total attempts to defeat Harding for the third time in as many meetings and they also used 20 kills from junior outside hitter Serena LeDuff in their Great American Conference Tournament quarterfinal win over the fifth-seeded Bisons on Thursday night inside the Bank of the Ozarks Arena in Hot Springs.
 
Southern Arkansas will face top-seeded and GAC regular season champion Arkansas Tech tomorrow at 6 p.m. in the semifinals; their third appearance on the tournament's second day in school history.
 
LeDuff broke the single-game tournament record for total attempts with 74; previously held by Harding's Mollie Arnold (2013). Senior setter Taylor Reaume logged a double-double, her thirteenth of the season, with 48 assists and 10 digs, while Hannah Rice delivered the most digs in a single game in GAC tourney history with 44. Three other players recorded ten or more digs led by Paige Mays' 19 as Southern Arkansas benefitted from long rallies to advance.
 
The Lady Muleriders (19-13, 9-7 GAC) struggled in the opening set hitting -.026, while committing 10 errors and seeing their opponent attack .242 as Harding topped SAU 25-13 in the first set; the largest margin of victory in 13 sets played between the two programs this season.
 
In the second set, Southern Arkansas posted their highest attack percentage of the match with a clip of .244 as the Lady Muleriders put together a 6-2 run to start the set and eventually weathered a 9-4 run midway through the second frame that gave the Bisons a 12-11 lead. Junior middle hitter Kaitlyn Reiner produced a kill and LeDuff added a pair of kills on a 4-0 run that put SAU out front 15-12.
 
Back and forth action labeled the entire match as Harding refused to go away and battled back to pull within 20-18 before they engineered a 4-0 run to take a 22-20 lead; threatening to go up two sets to none.
 
Senior opposite hitter Shelby Lauterbach sparked a 5-0 run with a kill and junior defensive specialist Paige Mays delivered with a service ace as the Lady Mulerider defense forced three HU attack errors to tie the match at a set apiece.
 
Harding edged out Southern Arkansas in the third set after using a 4-0 run and a pair of 5-0 runs, while holding SAU to their second of three sets with a swing percentage below .100.
 
Facing a win-or-go-home fourth set, the Lady Muleriders overcame a hitting percentage of .036 in the fourth set as they relied on their defense. Harding attacked at -.023 and committed nine errors in the fourth frame as Reiner delivered with two blocks, while LeDuff added another.
 
In what equaled the twelfth round of a heavyweight bout, both teams fought in the final set as the Lady Muleriders saw five players in Lauterbach, LeDuff, Reiner, sophomore Alli O'Banion and senior Emilie Aase record at least a kill. LeDuff regained the momentum after Harding threatened with a 3-0 run that made it 13-12 SAU by launching a pair of kills to push Southern Arkansas into Friday's semifinal matchup.
 
Lauterbach added 15 kills and Aase chipped in with 10. Reiner and O'Banion each had four blocks, while every player that touched the court recorded at least one dig.
 
Be sure to check out muleriderathletics.com for daily coverage of Lady Mulerider Volleyball as they make their run in the GAC Tourney presented by Subway.