MAGNOLIA, Ark. – Southern Arkansas began day two of the Mulerider Volleyball Invitational following a tough loss to 12
th-ranked Central Oklahoma on Thursday night. The unit started their day with a 10:00 AM match against the LeMoyne-Owen Lady Magicians, which saw SAU dominate with a 3-0 sweep. The Muleriders also ended up being the final match of the day's six, with the unit taking on the Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas. TAMUK ended up taking the win with a sweep following two tightly-knit sets to start that match.
Vs. LOC (W, 3-0 | 25-12, 25-15, 25-12)
It was all Blue and Gold against LeMoyne-Owen, as the Muleriders brought the magic against the Lady Magicians. Southern Arkansas had two players with double-digit kills, which included
Charley Walker (11) and
Courtnee Morgan (10). Walker, with her 11 kills, had the best attack percentage in the outing with 10+ attacks, as the junior recorded a hitting clip of .563. Overall,
Ryleigh Layton had the best attack percentage and 5+ attacks. The sophomore went 7-for-9 from the field, for a .667 percentage.
For the Muleriders in the game, the unit was carried by their numerous runs of three or more points in a row, as the group recorded 11 of those runs and never let LOC into the 20-point range due to a strong defensive presence. Accounting for her first double-digit kill outing of the season,
Courtnee Morgan did so by delivering the cherry on top with a kill assisted by freshman
Bailey Walker.
Vs. TAMUK (L, 0-3 | 22-25, 23-25, 14-25)
Game two of the day went very differently for the Blue and Gold, as Southern Arkansas was stunted by a Texas A&M-Kingsville group that was still fresh and warmed up off a 3-0 win of its own against LeMoyne-Owen.
In the matchup, Southern Arkansas was led by senior captain
Brinklee Dauenhauer, as the Springtown, Texas native accounted for her second double-double with a team-high ten kills and a second-best 14 digs. The unit ended up being toppled by a pair of ten-kill performances by the Javelinas and nine total blocks.
While the first set in the battle ended up with just a three-point loss for the Muleriders, the unit was not so close to Kingsville throughout the opening round. The Javelinas came into the match hot off an outing not too long before, as the squad went up eight on SAU with a 22-14 score. Thanks to a 7-1 stretch by Southern Arkansas, the unit gathered enough momentum to bring Mulerider Country to its feet, but the momentum would end shy of three points in the set.
Late into the second set against TAMUK, the Muleriders looked again to capture the momentum, as SAU tacked on a 3-0 run to take the lead from the Javelinas, up 21-20. Following that run, the two went back-and-forth for a couple of points before Kingsville reclaimed its lead with a 3-0 run of its own to go up two. Despite a Dauenhauer kill to cut the deficit to one, the Javelinas snuffed out SAU with a kill.
The Muleriders came out stronger in the third to open after switching ends of the court, but the unit did not last the heat the Javelinas had been building up, due to multiple stretches by Kingsville to build a lead that ended up being too much to come back from for SAU.
Up Next:
The Mulerider Volleyball Invitational marathon ends tomorrow, with the Blue and Gold set to play its second match against a Lone Star Conference team in UT-Tyler (2:00 PM). The match is set to be the invitational finale.
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