HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The No. 4 seed Harding volleyball team defeated No. 5 seed East Central 3-2 (22-25, 25-13, 25-22, 14-25, 16-14) in the first round of the Great American Conference Tournament at Bank OZK Arena Thursday.

Harding improves to 17-8 overall and improves to 18-7 in GAC Tournament Matches. The Lady Bisons also improve to 2-0 against No. 5 seeds.

The Lady Bisons advance to the semifinals to take on GAC Regular Season Champions and No. 1 seed Oklahoma Baptist Friday. First serve is at 6 p.m.

East Central ends its season with a 15-14 overall record.

FIRST SET

Trailing 19-15 in the first set, East Central went on a 6-0 run on three kills to lead 21-19. Leading 22-21, the Tigers had back-to-back kills to lead 24-21. After a Harding point, East Central won the set off a kill by Emma Strickland. Both teams had 15 kills in the set.

SECOND SET

Harding jumped out to an 11 -2 run on five kills in the second set. Leading 11-5, Harding went on an 8-3 run on three kills to lead 19-8. The Lady Bisons went on to win the set 25-13. East Central had 10 attack errors in the set and hit -.067.

THIRD SET

Harding took a 15-12 lead in the third set until East Central tied it up at 15 with a 3-0 run. The Lady Bisons won four of the next five points to lead 19-16 on three kills. The Tigers answered back with another 3-0 run to tie the set at 19. Harding won six of the next nine points to win the set 25-22. Harding had 15 kills in the set led by Logan Smith who had seven.

FOURTH SET

The fourth set belonged to East Central. The Tigers jumped out to a 7-3 run and didn't look back as they won the set 25-14. East Central had 13 kills and forced 10 Harding attack errors in the set.

FIFTH SET

With the fifth set tied at 11, East Central won the next three points to lead 14-11. With match point on the line, Harding forced four Tiger errors to lead 15-14. A Kill by Libby Hinton gave Harding the win. East Central had 11 kills in the set and seven attack errors. Harding had six kills with only three attack errors.

STATS

Harding

-          Harding had 56 kills, 31 attack errors and hit .126.

-          The Lady Bisons had three players in double-figure kills. Kelli McKinnon led Harding with a season-high 19 kills and six blocks. Logan Smith captured a double-double with 16 kills and 17 digs. Ally Stoner also had 10 kills.

-          Sarah Morehead captured a double-double with 47 assists and 16 digs.

-          Harding had a season-high 106 digs in the match. It was the second time the Lady Bisons have reached triple digits this season. Harding had 104 digs at home against Arkansas Tech.

-          Emma Winiger led Harding with 24 digs. Kinley Schnell also had a season-high 19 digs and Amber Robin had 18.

-          Harding had 13 blocks in the match. Along with Kelli McKinnon's six blocks, Libby Hinton also had six blocks, five of them solo.

-          The Lady Bisons had 10 solo blocks in the match. It was most since 1999 when Harding had as many at Drury on October 9.

East Central

-          East Central had 58 kills, 32 attack errors and hit .120.

-          Nyah Walker led the Tigers with 16 kills. Emma Strickland captured a double-double with 15 kills and 16 digs.

-          Alejandra Delgado led the defense with 36 digs.

-          East Central had 102 digs in the match.