ALVA, Okla. – The Harding volleyball team dropped the first set but battled back to beat Northwestern Oklahoma 3-1 (23-25, 25-21, 25-14, 25-15) on Saturday in Great American Conference action. With the win, Harding moved into sole possession of second place in the GAC standings with an 8-2 record.
Harding has already wrapped up a spot in the GAC Tournament held in Hot Springs, Ark., Nov. 13-15. The Lady Bisons have five more conference matches before the conference tournament.
Harding (15-6) had 58 kills and a season-high 107 digs. The last time the Lady Bisons had over 100 digs in a match was at Southern Nazarene last season when Harding had 105.
It was Harding's fourth straight win and its fourth straight GAC win.
The Lady Bisons had four players that had over 10 kills in the match. Harding was led by senior outside hitter Marindia Turner who had a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs. Senior outside hitter Erica Heim also had a double-double with 13 kills and 18 digs. Senior middle blocker Liv Savage had 12 kills, six blocks and a career-high five service aces. Junior outside hitter Molly Howard had 11 kills.
Senior setter Taryn Eubank also captured a double-double with 50 assists and a season-high 21 digs for Harding. Sophomore defensive specialist Anna Leigh Cargile also had over 20 digs with 21.
Northwestern Oklahoma, who was tied for second place with the Lady Bisons heading into the match, falls to 13-6 overall and 6-3 in the GAC.
The Rangers were led by Ashanti Banks and Asia Pipkin who each had 13 kills. Alina Fierro led the defense with 19 kills.
Harding hit .211 in the match and held Northwestern Oklahoma to hitting .077. The Lady Bisons forced the Rangers to eight attach errors in the third set and nine in the fourth set.
After falling behind 1-0 in the match, Harding had 17 kills in the second set to tie the match and gain momentum.
The third set was all Harding as they jumped out to a 21-5 lead. During a 13-0 run, Savage had all five of her service aces. The Lady Bisons also had five kills during the run.
Northwestern Oklahoma stayed close to Harding in the fourth set until the Lady Bisons went on a 4-0 run to take a 16-7 lead. Harding closed the set on a 5-1 run on three kills.
Harding will play its third of a four match road trip on Tuesday in Magnolia, Ark., against Southern Arkansas. First serve is a 7 p.m.
