RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Emily Clayton had a career-high 19 kills to lead the Harding volleyball team to a 3-2 (23-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21, 15-7) win over Arkansas Tech Tuesday in Great American Conference action.

With the Southwestern Oklahoma loss Tuesday and the Harding win, the Lady Bisons are the 2018 Regular Season Champions and will be the No. 1 seed in the GAC Tournament November 8-10 in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It was Harding's fourth GAC regular season championship.

The Lady Bisons improve to 21-7 overall and 14-1 in the GAC.

Arkansas Tech falls to 17-10 overall and 10-5 in the GAC.

FIRST SET

Arkansas Tech jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first set until Harding took a 19-18 lead. Trailing 22-21, the Golden Suns went on a 3-0 run and then won the set on a kill by Allie Anderson. The Lady Bisons had eight attack errors in the set.

SECOND SET

The second set stayed close until halfway through. Trailing 19-18, Harding went on a 7-2 run to win the set 25-21. Harding had 16 kills and hit .268 in the set. The Lady Bisons forced nine Arkansas Tech attack errors.

THIRD SET

With Harding leading 15-14, Arkansas Tech went on a 4-0 run to lead 18-15. The Golden Suns held on to the lead and won the set 25-22. Arkansas Tech had 17 kills in the set.

FOURTH SET

Harding took a 10-5 lead in the fourth set and didn't look back as the Lady Bisons won 25-21. Harding had 16 kills and held Arkansas Tech to hitting .163.

FIFTH SET

Harding jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fifth set on three blocks. Leading 12-7, the Lady Bisons had three straight kills to win the set 15-7. Harding had seven kills and five blocks and forced Arkansas Tech to seven attack errors and hitting -.045 in the set.

STATS

Harding

-          Madison Poen captured a double-double with 14 kills and a career-high 27 digs.

-          Zoe Hardin also captured a double-double with 14 kills and 10 blocks.

-          Emma Reeves had 14 kills for Harding.

-          Rachel Huessner had 54 assists and tied a career-high with 19 digs.

-          Taylor Lake had 20 digs for the Lady Bison defense.

-          Harding had 13 blocks in the match. Along with Zoe, Poen and Reeves each had four.

Arkansas Tech

-          Allie Anderson led Arkansas Tech with 19 kills.

-          Meredith Darnell led the defense with 24 digs.

QUOTE

Harding head coach Meredith Fear: "We had a great win over an always good ATU team. Felt good to get a hard fought road match that took every person on our team to step up and do well. The ladies answered the call and we are coming home with a W and a championship."

UP NEXT

Harding will host Arkansas-Monticello at 6 p.m., at the Rhodes-Reaves Field House. After the match, the Lady Bisons will honor the 2018 seniors.