ADA, Okla. – Senior setter Taylor Reaume recorded her second-consecutive double-double and third of the year with a season-high 49 assists and 11 digs, but Southern Arkansas dropped a five-set match (25-20, 17-25, 25-21, 23-25, 12-15) with Cameron University on Saturday morning at the Tiger/Savage Storm Classic hosted by East Central and Southeastern Oklahoma.
 
The Lady Muleriders (4-5) won twice as many sets against Cameron University than four other Great American Conference teams have since the start of the 2015 season. The Aggies (7-0) are 5-0 against GAC opponents in 18 sets played during a pair of tournaments played in 2015.
 
In the opening set, SAU trailed 14-10 as Cameron used a pair of offensive errors to aid a 4-1 run. Sophomore Alli O'Banion and senior Shelby Lauterbach collected back-to-back kills and Lauterbach added another kill as the Lady Muleriders engineered a 10-3 run that saw junior Serena LeDuff add three kills, all assisted by Reaume, on the back half of the run to give SAU a 20-17 lead.
 
Both sides traded point late in the first set before Reaume found LeDuff and Lauterbach to push the lead to four, 23-19. After a CU kill, O'Banion followed suit to give SAU set point as senior Emilie Aase and Lauterbach combined on a block to give the Lady Muleriders an opening set victory at 25-20.
 
Cameron was able to slow down the Lady Mulerider attack in the second set as they used a pair of 3-0 runs and 4-0 runs to gain the momentum as they held Southern Arkansas to an attack percentage of .132, while SAU committed a match-high seven errors. The Aggies took the second set 25-17 and used a 5-0 run in the third set to take an 8-5 lead.
 
A 10-2 third set run from Southern Arkansas saw Lauterbach, Reaume (2) and O'Banion register kills, junior Paige Mays register her team-leading sixteenth service ace of the season and LeDuff and junior Kaitlyn Reiner added block assists while building a 15-10 lead. Cameron would overcome the deficit and eventually lead 21-20, before a 5-0 run gave SAU the set win and momentum in the match.
 
A pair of kills by Lauterbach late in the fourth set brought Southern Arkansas to within a point of tying the match at 24, but Cameron kept their match hopes alive by registering a kill on the next serve. In the decisive fifth set, CU had the match momentum as they built an 11-6 lead before finishing out the match in their first five-set match of the season.
 
Junior libero Hannah Rice collected 32 digs to pace a Lady Mulerider defense that became the first team to force five sets with Cameron in 2015. LeDuff led all players with 18 kills, while Lauterbach added a career-high 16 kills.­­­­­­­­­­­­­
In the afternoon rematch with William Jewell, the Lady Muleriders had three players register double-digit kill totals led by LeDuff's 13, but as a team SAU only managed an attack percentage of .158 as the Lady Cardinals defeated Southern Arkansas in four sets (19-25, 25-23, 24-26, 19-25) for the second time in as many weekends.
 
Reaume again registered a 30+ assists match with 35 against WJC. Rice added 26 digs, while O'Banion and Reiner produced three blocks apiece.
 
Down by three, 20-17, late in the first set, the Lady Muleriders were unable to get any closer as a trio of attack errors enabled William Jewell to pull away for a set one win. But in the second set, Southern Arkansas matched the Lady Cardinals point for point before a 5-0 run by Jewell put SAU down 17-14.
 
A pair of WJC attack errors and two kills from Aase helped aid the Lady Muleriders as they tied the second set at 19, before O'Banion aided Lauterbach with the set-clinching kill moments later.  
 
The Lady Muleriders led 20-11 in the third set, but William Jewell fought back to engineer a 14-4 stretch that gave the Lady Cardinals the third set, before a 7-0 run to open the fourth set gave WJC the match momentum. However, SAU showed some grit as they battled back to pull within two at 21-19, before the Lady Cardinals ended the match with four consecutive points.  
 
SAU attacked at a clip of .229 over the four-game set in Ada, Oklahoma, while holding opponents to a combined attack percentage of .176. As a team, the Lady Muleriders registered 261 digs and 50 block assists.
 
Southern Arkansas returns to the floor on Tuesday, September 15, for their Great American Conference opener with Arkansas Tech. First-serve from inside the W.T. Watson Athletic Center is set for 7 p.m.