MONTICELLO, Ark. – The East Central University volleyball team took care of business against Arkansas Monticello by claiming a swift 3-0 victory in their first Arkansas road game of the season.
 
With the sweep, ECU moves to 3-3 in GAC play.
 
In the first set, the match's closet set, the Tigers jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead that extended to 15-9 before UAM closed the gap and at one point tied the set 21-21. But ECU pulled through, securing the opening set 25-23. From there, ECU kicked it into gear.
 
The Tigers turned up the offense and found their groove in the final two sets as each were decided by comfortable margins. The Blossoms did not hit over the .100 mark in any set, including an exact .000 hitting percentage in the first two sets and hitting .017 overall in the match.
 
As a team, ECU outhit UAM 40-27 and had two Tigers reach double-digit kills.
 
Emma Strickland led with 12 kills while also earning a double-double with 13 digs. Odalys Gonzalez recorded a double-double of her own as well with 10 kills and a team-high 20 digs. Angel Nahinu had a team-best hitting percentage of .333 with six kills on 15 attempts and one error and Julia Kabala paced the offense with 30 assists.
 
The ECU volleyball team will continue the action tomorrow with a GAC matchup against Southern Arkansas University at 4 pm.