State sports briefs

VOLLEYBALL

Reeves keys Harding’s victory

Emma Reeves had a career-high 21 kills to lead Harding University to a 25-17, 22-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-13 victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State in the first round of the Great American Conference Tournament on Thursday in Hot Springs.

Harding (23-7) advances to the semifinals and will face either No. 4 seed Ouachita Baptist or No. 5 seed Arkansas Tech at 6 p.m. today.

Madison Poen had a career-high 19 kills and 16 digs, and Zoe Hardin, the GAC Player of the Year, had 17 kills and 7 blocks. Rachel Heussner had a career-high 65 assists and 9 digs. Taylor Lake led the defense with 23 digs. Katherine Cowart had 17 digs and Taylor Eubank had 16.

In other opening-round matches, Henderson State University defeated Oklahoma Baptist 25-19, 25-18, 25-20 and Southwestern Oklahoma State defeated Southern Nazarene 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-17.

Courtney Bolf had 20 digs and 14 kills for Henderson State (275), which will play Southwestern Oklahoma State in a semifinal at 3:30 p.m. today. Abby Blackburn had 24 assists.

Meagan Ellis finished with a match-high 16 kills for Southern Nazarene. Bailee Turang, a first-team All-GAC selection, added 10 kills and 10 digs. Logan Matthews, the league’s freshman of the year, tallied 18 digs.

Four UAFS players recognized

Four University of Arkansas-Fort Smith players have been recognized by the Heartland Conference for their performances this season.

Senior middle hitter Debra Rogers was named Heartland Conference Offensive Player of the Year. Also, junior outside hitter Anna Demmer was named first-team all-conference and freshman setter Taylor Stoops and redshirt freshman libero Pilar Onstad received honorable mention honors.

MEN’S SOCCER Brodacki, five others earn honors

After the most successful in the program’s NCAA Division I history, the University of Central Arkansas had six players earn All-Missouri Valley Conference honors.

Junior Niklas Brodacki became just the fourth player in MVC history to win multiple player of the year honors and was named the league’s Offensive Player of the Year for the third consecutive year, while UCA was named Coaching Staff of the Year for the second year in a row.

Brodacki, senior Daltyn Knutson, and sophomore Kasper Andersen were all named first-team All-MVC, while senior Chris Holmes earned second-team All-MVC honors. Sophomore Soren Jensen and junior Marc Olsen received honorable mention as the Bears tied for the second-most players honored in the league this year.