JONESBORO, Ark. (8/30/24) – Stout defense and clutch offense fueled a pair of opening-day victories for the Arkansas State volleyball team, which topped Southeast Missouri and Ole Miss Friday inside First National Bank Arena.
The Red Wolves (2-0) opened by sweeping SEMO before coming from behind to upend Ole Miss in a four-set triumph in the nightcap. A-State's win over the Rebels marked its first over an autonomy conference member since a 2019 win at Virginia Tech, and the first at home since besting Ole Miss in the 2017 A-State Invitational.
A-State limited its opponents to a .085 attack percentage across the two matches, while six different players recorded 10-plus kills on the day.
MATCH 1 – A-STATE 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0 (25-20, 25-11, 25-14)
A balanced effort paved the way to a season-opening sweep for Arkansas State, topping preseason Ohio Valley Conference favorite Southeast Missouri 25-20, 25-11 and 25-14.
Five players recorded seven kills or more, as the Red Wolves hit .364 as a squad while serving nine aces. Haley Glunz led with nine kills and a .615 clip, while Daedrianna Cail (.545) and Grace Wiley (.353) recorded eight kills each. Abby Harris knocked down seven kills (.500), as did Kaitlin Whitlock.
Setters Valeria Ortiz and Erin Madigan guided the offense with 21 and 15 assists, respectively. Behind the service line, Cail matched Mia Maloney with a team-high three aces.
Defensively, Cail led all players with four blocks while Wiley added three. Sarah Martinez held corralled 14 digs as A-State's defense held the Redhawks to a .036 attack percentage, with no SEMO player having more than four kills.
The sides traded leads early in the opening frame, with SEMO leading 15-14 at the media timeout. A-State took the lead on a Redhawk miscue before Cail ended a 6-2 set-ending run to give the Scarlet and Black a 1-0 lead.
A-State carried momentum into the second set, surging ahead 16-7 with an 8-1 scoring run. SEMO rallied with three unanswered, but a Wiley kill sparked a 9-1 to end the set and gave the Red Wolves a two-set advantage.
Cail served a pair of her aces early in the third set, widening the gap to make it 7-3. The hosts continued to stifle the Redhawks on both the attack and defense to lead by as much as 10 before Ortiz set Whitlock up for a match-clinching kill.
MATCH 2 – A-STATE 3, OLE MISS (19-25, 25-20, 25-17, 25-20)
A match-clinching 6-0 run in the fourth set, which included five kills by freshman Addison Collum, sealed the 2-0 day for Arkansas State on Friday with a four-set win over SEC foe Ole Miss.
Collum – who made her A-State debut in the final stanza – spiked seven kills in the set off the bench to help send a raucous crowd home happy.
Whitlock led the Red Wolves with nine kills and a match-high 19 digs, while Wiley joined Collum with seven kills. Madigan and Ortiz doled out 13 assists apiece, with Sarah Martinez corralling 13 digs. At the net, Glunz and Cail tallied three blocks each.
The Rebels took an early lead on a series of attack errors to lead 8-6 in the first set, and expanded that advantage to as much as seven when an ace by Julia Dyess made it 23-16. After Nia Washington made it set point with one of her match-best 13 kills, the Red Wolves stayed alive with a service error – one of 21 committed by Ole Miss on the night – and an attack error to make it 24-19. An A-State service error then gave the visitors a 1-0 lead in the match.
A-State surged to a 6-1 lead in the second set and never trailed in the frame, with Harris giving the squad its largest lead of the set at 15-7 with one of her four kills. The Rebels would rally to within three to make it 23-20, but Harris fired an ace two points later to even the match at a set apiece.
In the third set, the teams traded blows before a Lewis kill capped a 4-0 run to make it 8-4. Later, a solo block by Glunz made it 19-13, and then Lewis sparked a set-ending 4-0 scoring stretch to give the Scarlet and Black a 2-1 lead.
Five ties and four lead changes highlighted a nip-and-tuck fourth set, but A-State rebounded from a four-point deficit to take a 19-18 lead on an ace by Martinez. Ole Miss answered with back-to-back points to lead 20-19, but Collum provided the spark with a set-tying kill that made it 20-all and leading to a match-ending 6-0 run.
NEXT UP
The Red Wolves conclude the A-State Invitational Saturday at 2 p.m., hosting Saint Louis. Fans with a ticket for the A-State football team's home opener against UCA will receive free admission to the match by presenting their football ticket at the First National Bank Arena Ticket Office.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Fans can follow the team on Twitter (@AStateVB) and Instagram (astatevb) along with liking the Arkansas State Red Wolves Volleyball page on Facebook for the latest news and updates regarding the team.
