HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The sixth seeded Harding volleyball team fought its way back from a 2-0 deficit to beat No. 2 seed Northwestern Oklahoma 3-2 (20-25, 21-25, 25-13, 25-16, 15-10) Friday in the semifinals of the Great American Conference Tournament at Bank OZK Arena. It was the first time in 32 GAC Tournament matches a team has come from behind 2-0 to win.
Harding advances to the finals and will play No. 1 seed Oklahoma Baptist Saturday at 2 p.m. It is the first time a No. 6 seed has advanced to the finals.
Harding improves to 21-10 overall and Northwestern Oklahoma ends its season with a 23-11 record.
FIRST SET
The first set stayed close throughout. Trailing 19-17, Northwestern Oklahoma went on an 8-1 run to win 25-20. Harding had 10 attack errors in the set.
SECOND SET
Northwestern Oklahoma jumped out to a 10-4 lead in the second set. Leading 17-14, the Rangers went on a 5-1 run to lead 22-15. Harding scored six of the next eight points but it wasn't enough as Northwestern Oklahoma won the set 25-21. The Lady Bisons had 12 attack errors in the set and hit .046.
THIRD SET
Trailing 4-3 in the third set, Harding went on a 10-1 run on seven kills to lead 13-5. Leading 16-12, the Lady Bisons went on a 10-2 run on six kills to win the set 25-13. Harding had 18 kills and hit .341 in the set.
FOURTH SET
Harding continued its momentum in the fourth set jumping out to an 8-2 lead. Leading 12-8, the Lady Bisons went on an 8-0 run on six kills to lead 20-8. Northwestern Oklahoma battled back with an 8-3 run to pull with seven 23-16 but a Ranger attack error and a kill by Logan Smith gave Harding the set 25-16. Harding had 16 kills and forced Northwestern Oklahoma to hitting .028 in the set.
FIFTH SET
Trailing 6-4, Northwestern Oklahoma went on a 4-0 run to lead 8-6. Harding only allowed the Rangers to score two more points the rest of the way as Harding went on a 9-2 run on six kills to win the set 15-10. The Lady Bisons had nine kills and held Northwestern Oklahoma to hitting .045 in the set.
STATS
Harding
- Libby Hinton had a season-high 23 kills and four blocks to lead Harding.
- Kelli McKinnon had a season-high 20 kills and hit .341.
- Logan Smith captured a double-double with 16 kills and a season-high 28 digs.
- Sarah Morehead had a season-high 63 assists in the match. It was the eighth most in a five set match since Harding joined the NCAA in 1997.
- Harding had 107 digs in the match. Katherine Cowart had 28, Emma Winiger had 18 and Kinley Schnell had 17.
- Harding had 73 kills, 34 attack errors and hit .176 in the match. It was the second time this season the Lady Bisons had have had over 70 kills in a match, the last time was at home against Northwestern Oklahoma.
Northwestern Okla.
- Kiauna Clark led Northwestern Oklahoma with 17 kills.
- Kaydee Honeycutt had 10 kills and 29 digs for the Rangers.
- Sydnee Miller also had 20 digs.
