SEARCY – The Harding volleyball team got a big Great American Conference win Tuesday as it defeated Southern Arkansas 3-0 at the Rhodes Field House. The Lady Bisons stayed in first in the GAC standings and improved their record to 21-6 overall and 10-0 in conference.

Southern Arkansas came into the match tied with Arkansas Tech for second place in the GAC standings. SAU fell to third place after the loss. The winner of the conference regular season will host the GAC Tournament Nov. 15-17.

It was the seventh straight win by the Lady Bisons. Harding also stayed perfect at home with an 8-0 record.

For the fourth-straight match, Harding (21-6) hit over .300. The Lady Bisons had 45 kills on 110 attempts with nine errors for a .327 hitting percentage. It was the also the second straight match the Lady Bisons have finished with fewer than 10 hitting errors. HU had nine against Southwestern Oklahoma State last Saturday.

Harding had three players that hit over .300 in the match. Sophomore middle blocker Liv Savage led HU hitting .615. Junior outside hitter Mollie Arnold hit .414 and sophomore outside hitter Marindia Turner hit .321. Savage and Arnold each had only one hitting error.  

Arnold led the HU offense with 13 kills. Turner had 12.

Southern Arkansas (17-8, 8-2 GAC) was led by Denise DeVine who had 15 kills. Courtney Smith was the other Lady Mulerider that had double-figure kills with 10. Lauren Woods had a match-high 23 digs for SAU.

Harding took the first two sets 25-18 and 25-19. SAU took a 22-19 lead in the third set. The Lady Bisons pulled within one point on two straight kills. Southern Arkansas' Klaire Blasco Vine then had a kill to put SAU ahead by two. HU went on a 4-0 run on three kills by Mollie Arnold to take the set 25-23.

The Lady Bisons had eight blocks in the match. Liv Savage led HU with five.

Harding will be back in action on Thursday as they host Ouachita Baptist in GAC action at 7 p.m., at the Rhodes Field House.