TYLER, Texas – The Harding volleyball team opened its 2023 campaign with a pair of wins Friday in the Patriot Classic hosted by Texas-Tyler. The Lady Bisons defeated St. Edward's 3-0 (25-7, 25-13, 25-20) and Montevallo 3-0 (25-18, 26-24, 25-20).

Harding improves to 2-0 on the season.

St. Edward's falls to 0-1 on the season and Montevallo falls to 0-2.

ST. EDWARD'S MATCH

FIRST SET

Harding scored the first five points of the match before St. Edward's got on the board. The Lady Bisons then went on a 10-0 run to lead 15-1. Harding went on to win the set 25-7. The Lady Bisons hit .474 in the set.

SECOND SET

St Edward's stayed close to Harding until midway through the second set when Harding went on a 6-0 run to lead 21-12. After a St. Edward's kill, Harding went on a 4-0 run to win the set 25-13. The Hilltoppers had nine attack errors in the set.

THIRD SET

Harding jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the third set until St. Edward's battled back to pull within one 12-11. The Lady Bisons answered back with a 7-1 run to lead 19-11. The Hilltoppers came back again and pulled within three 23-20 but Harding won the next two points to win the set 25-20.

STATS

Harding

-          Harding had 30 kills in the match and hit .192.

-          Chloe Ingersoll and Jacey Lambert each had seven kills to lead the Lady Bisons.

-          Sarah Morehead captured a double-double with 20 assists and 14 digs.

-          Emma Winiger led the Harding defense with 18 digs.

-          Harding had 10 blocks in the match with Kelli McKinnon leading the way with six.

St. Edward's

-          St. Edward's had 22 kills, 26 attack errors and hit -.037.

-          Lourdes Gomez led the Hilltoppers with nine kills.

-          Sarah Konovodoff led the defense with 22 digs.

MONTEVALLO MATCH

FIRST SET

Harding opened the match strong with six straight points on two kills. Leading 7-3, the Lady Bisons went on a 9-0 run to lead 16-3. Harding went on to win the set 25-18. Harding had 11 kills in the set.

SECOND SET

After a Harding kill to start the second set, Montevallo went on a 4-0 run to lead 4-1. Harding answered back with a 12-3 run to lead 13-7. Trailing 14-9, the Falcons went on a 10-2 run to lead 19-16. With the set tied at 23, Montevallo took a 24-23 lead on a Harding attack error. The Lady Bisons forced three straight Falcon attack errors to win the set 26-24. Harding held Montevallo to hitting -.086 in the set.

THIRD SET

Trailing 9-6 in the third set, Montevallo went on a 6-1 run to lead 12-10. Harding answered back with an 8-2 run on four kills to lead 18-14. The Falcons again battled back to tie the set at 20.  Harding scored five-straight points to win the set 25-20. Harding had 13 kills in the set and hit .344 with only two attack errors.

STATS

Harding

-          Harding had 33 kills in the match and hit .150.

-          Chloe Ingersoll led Harding with 10 kills.

-          Olivia Wiedower led Harding with 16 assists in the match.

-          Emma Winiger led the defense with 13 digs. Grecia Soriano also had 11 digs.

-          Harding had eight blocks in the match with Kelli McKinnon having four.

Montevallo

-          Montevallo had 29 kills in the match and hit .028.

-          Colton Thompson captured a double-double with 16 assists and 10 digs.

-          Megan Schram led the defense with 12 digs.

UP NEXT

Harding will wrap up the classic Saturday when it takes on Union at 10 a.m., and Dallas Baptist at 5:30 p.m.