RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Harding volleyball team defeated Arkansas Tech 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-14) Thursday to go undefeated in Great American Conference play.

Harding, the GAC Regular Season Champions, will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament November 10-12 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The Lady Bisons will face No. 8 seed Arkansas Tech in the first round on November 10 at 3 p.m.

It is the fifth time and the first time since 2017 a team has gone undefeated in GAC regular season action. There are only two schools that have gone undefeated, Arkansas Tech and Harding. Arkansas Tech went undefeated in 2011 and 2017 and Harding went undefeated in 2012, 2013 and 2022.

With the win, Harding has now won 25-straight matches. The streak dates back to August 27th. The Lady Bisons broke the previous record of 17 that was accomplished twice with the first being in 2002 and the second in 2005.

Harding improves to 27-1 overall and 16-0 in the GAC.

Arkansas Tech falls to 8-21 overall and 6-10 in the GAC.

FIRST SET

Leading 12-10 in the first set, Harding went on a 7-2 run on five kills to lead 19-12. Arkansas Tech battled back to cut the lead to three, 20-17. The Lady Bisons won six of the next seven points to win the set 25-17. Harding had 17 kills in the set and hit .317. The Golden Suns were held to only seven kills in the set.

SECOND SET

Harding carried its momentum into the second set taking a 5-1 lead. Arkansas Tech battled back to take a 7-6 lead on a 6-1 run. The Lady Bisons answered back with a 5-0 run on two aces to lead 11-7. Trailing 23-22, Harding won the next three points to win the set 25-23. The Lady Bisons had 11 kills in the set and forced nine Arkansas Tech attack errors.

THIRD SET

Leading 8-6, Harding went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-6 lead and didn't look back as the Lady Bisons won the set 25-14. Harding had 12 kills in the set and forced eight Arkansas Tech attack errors.

STATS

Harding

-          Harding had 40 kills, 13 attack errors and hit .237 in the match.

-          Logan Smith led Harding with 15 kills.

-          Avery Hall started her second career match for Harding at setter and captured a double-double with 25 assists and 11 digs.

-          The Lady Bisons had 58 digs and were led by Emma Winiger who had 13.

-          Harding had 10 service aces in the match. The Lady Bisons were led by Libby Hinton who had a career-high five aces. Grecia Soriano and Logan Smith also had two aces.

Arkansas Tech

-          Arkansas Tech had 27 kills, 20 attack errors and hit .062 in the match.

-          Brianna Merkel led the Golden Suns with 10 kills.

-          Megan Solberg led the defense with 16 digs.