ADA, Okla. – The Harding volleyball team won its fifth straight match Saturday morning defeating East Central 3-1 (25-19, 29-25, 25-23, 25-14) in Great American Conference action. The Lady Bisons improve to 17-2 overall and 6-1 in the GAC.

East Central falls to 4-16 overall and 0-7 in the GAC.

FIRST SET

Trailing 7-6, Harding went on a 4-0 run to lead 10-7. East Central battled back and took a 13-12 lead on a 4-1 run. The Lady Bisons answered back with a 5-1 run to lead 17-14. The Tigers did not get any closer than two the rest of the way as Harding won the set 25-19.

SECOND SET

East Central took an 11-1 lead to open the second set on six Harding attack errors. Harding battled back and cut the lead to two 21-19 but the Tigers won the next four points to win the set 25-19.

THIRD SET

Trailing 9-6, Harding went on an 8-1 run to lead 14-10. East Central fought back and tied the set at 23 until Harding had back-to-back kills to win 25-23.

FOURTH SET

The fourth set was all Harding as it opened the set with an 8-4 lead. The Lady Bisons went on to win the set 25-14. Harding had 19 kills in the set and hit .484 and held East Central to hitting .079.

STATS

Harding

-          Emily Clayton led Harding with 15 kills. Emma Reeves added 14 kills, Taylor Mounts had 13 and Zoe Hardin had 10.

-          Rachel Heussner captured a double-double with 47 assists and 14 digs.

-          Taylor Lake led the defense with a season-high 29 digs. Selena Foster also had a season-high with 18 digs.

East Central

-          Alex Campbell led East Central with 11 kills.

-          Lily Porsa had 24 digs to lead the defense.

QUOTE

Head Coach Meredith Fear: "We are glad to end the weekend 2-0. We saw some really good defensive play this weekend and need to continue to work on our offensive consistency. Excited to get back on our home court next week."

UP NEXT

Harding will take a break from GAC play Monday when it hosts Arkansas-Fort Smith at 6 p.m., at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House.