HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The No. 5 East Central University volleyball team forced five sets and extra-points, but could not come out on top against No. 4 Harding in the Great American Conference Championship Quarterfinals. The Tigers (15-14, 11-5 GAC) fell 3-2 (22-25, 25-13, 25-22, 14-25, 16-14) to the Bisons (17-8, 12-4 GAC) at Bank OZK Arena.
Photo Gallery
Scoring
- Set 1: 25-22
- The teams picked up right where they left off in Searcy, Ark., during the regular-season match that went down to the wire
- Traded serves to a 14-14 tie
- The Bisons were then able to gain an advantage with a 5-1 run (19-15)
- The Tigers fought back and went up by two (21-19), with a 6-0 run
- The teams traded points the rest of the set
- Set 2: 13-25
- Harding took control of the set right from the start, with a 3-0 run
- The Bisons continued to push the tempo and had the lead out to nine (11-2) quickly
- ECU kept fighting, but count not overcome the deficit
- Set 3: 22-25
- The set was a back-and-forth battle at the beginning
- Knotted at six with Harding used a 3-0 run to gain the advantage
- The Bisons held a 1 to 3-point lead until the Tigers came back to tie the set at 15
- Harding again went ahead by three until ties at 19 and 20
- The Bisons then used a final 3-0 run to take control for good
- Set 4: 25-14
- ECU came out swinging and took a 2-0 lead and never gave it up the rest of the set
- Harding kept things close for a while, but a 6-0 run in the middle of the set increased the Tigers lead to 11 (19-8)
- The Bisons didn't get closer than eight the rest of the set
- Set 5: 14-16
- ECU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead
- Harding kept up the pressure and chipped away to tie the set at 7
- The teams traded small runs and serves to a 11-all knot
- The Tigers then went up 14-11 and looked like they would take the win
- However, the Bisons rallied and used a 5-0 run to end the set with the extra-point victory
Tiger Quick Hits
- This was the first GAC tournament game (traditional format) since 2013
- ECU is now 2-4 in GAC Championship Tournament matches
- ECU claimed its first winning season in school history (15-14, 11-5 GAC)
- Most wins in a single season in school history
- Went on a nine-match winning streak for the longest in school history
- The Tigers set several individual and team match records, season records and career marks throughout the season and in the match
- Team Individual 5-Set Match Records
- No. 4 Attempts – 216
- No. 9 Digs – 102
- No. 1 Solo Blocks – 8
- Individual Match Records
- Team Single Season Top-10 Lists
- No. 5 Kills – 1,398
- No. 2 Kills Per Set – 12.37
- No. 6 Attacks – 4,295
- No. 5 Attack Pct. - .157
- No. 5 Service Aces – 136
- No. 6 Service Aces Per Set – 1.20
- No. 4 Digs – 1,914
- No. 3 Digs Per Set – 16.94
- No. 5 Assists – 1,278
- No. 2 Assists Per Set – 11.31
- No. 4 Total Blocks – 187.0
- No. 4 Blocks Per Set – 1.65
- No. 8 Solo Blocks – 42
- No. 4 Block Assists – 290
- No. 5 Points – 1,721.0
- No. 2 Points Per Set – 15.23
- No. 7 Sets Played – 113
- Individual Season Records
- Individual Career Records
- Dungen finished her five-year career ranked on seven lists
- No. 1 Matches Played – 130
- No. 2 Sets Played – 451
- No. 3 Kill Pct. - .250
- No. 1 Service Aces – 115
- No. 5 Digs – 930
- No. 2 Assists – 2,763
- No. 3 Double-Doubles – 26
- Delgado is ranked No. 8 in Digs – 833
- Garcia is ranked No. 6 Double-Doubles – 22
- Jordan, Jr. Nyah Walker and RSo. Kemyra Landry all landed on the career hitting pct. list
- Walker: No. 7 - .211
- Jordan: No. 8 - .208
- Landry: No. 9 - .207
- Dungen and Strickland each earned a double-double in the match against Harding
- Dungen: 29 assists, 14 digs, 1 kill
- Strickland: 15 kills, 16 digs, 1 service ace
- Jordan, Landry and Sr. Darcie Kaiser led the team in blocking
- Jordan: 2 block assists, 2 block solos, 1 dig, 10 kills
- Landry: 3 block solos, 4 kills, 2 digs
- Kaiser: 1 block solo, 2 block assists, 2 digs, 8 kills
- Walker also added a double-digit kill total: 16 kills, 1 block solo, 4 digs
- RFr. Anmarie Dominick added 13 digs, 1 kill and 2 assists
- Head Coach Cheri Lindsay moved to 20-20 overall all in two seasons with the Tigers
- Second-most wins by an ECU coach
- No. 1 - 79 by Dave Thorn (8 years)