SEARCY, Ark. — Olivia Wiedower finished with 51 assists and career-high 25 digs to lead five Lady Bisons in double-figure digs as the Harding volleyball team rallied from two sets down to defeat Southern Arkansas 22-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-18, 15-10 Tuesday night at Rhodes-Reaves Field House in Great American Conference action.
Harding (13-2, 3-1 GAC) dropped the opening two frames before executing the reverse sweep, holding the Muleriders (4-11, 0-4 GAC) to a .032 hitting percentage across the final three sets.
Philomina Klotz sparked the attack at the net, putting down a team-high 15 kills without an error on 27 attempts for a .556 hitting percentage to go with five block assists. Melaina Haines added 14 kills and 11 digs, while middle blocker Rauly Eason recorded 11 kills and seven blocks.
Trailing 2-0 in the match, the Lady Bisons broke open the third set with a four-point run—highlighted by a block from Eason—to push their lead to 23-16 before taking the set 25-17.
Harding rode that momentum into the fourth set, posting 16 kills to pull away 25-18 and push the match to a deciding fifth frame. In the final set, the Lady Bisons broke an 4-4 tie with a 3-0 run to lead 7-4. Leading 12-10, Harding scored the next three points to win the 15-10.
The Lady Bisons out-defended Southern Arkansas, gathering 109 digs and racking up 12 team blocks compared to eight for the Muleriders. Addie Worley logged career-high 21 digs for Harding, and Mallory Weyand chipped in 19.
Brinklee Dauenhauer, Courtnee Morgan, and Nasiya Graham led Southern Arkansas with 11 kills apiece, while Kendall Toliver recorded 36 digs.
Harding travels to Russellville, Arkansas, on Friday to face conference opponent Arkansas Tech at 6 p.m.
