Tigers look to stay perfect through second weekend tournament
ARKADELPHIA — The Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State volleyball teams have teamed up to host the Reddie-Tiger Challenge in Arkadelphia this weekend.
A total of 12 matches will be played today and Saturday on the two campuses.
“We are very excited to co-host with Henderson State this weekend,” said Ouachita head volleyball coach Allison Frizzell-Kizer. “Every chance we have to get friends, family and Ouachita supporters together, we want to jump on the opportunity.”
Ouachita (4-0) is coming off of a perfect weekend at the Alabama-Huntsville Classic.
“Coming off of our first weekend at Alabama-Huntsville with a 4-0 start and seeing tough competition early has allowed us to incorporate some specific drill work time in practice this week,” Frizzell-Kizer said.
“Coach [Alli] O’Banion and I have focused this week on hitting out-of-system balls and aggressive serving and we will be looking to improve these skills this weekend. This is a good weekend for us to improve our team chemistry as we head into conference play next week.”
Adrianna Nolly, of Denton, Texas, earned the first Great American Conference Offensive Player of the Week award of the season after making 50 kills and 20 blocks over the weekend. Nolly tallied a season-high 20 kills in the final match against Alabama-Huntsville.
Senior setter Stormi Leonard, of Decatur, Texas, recorded 146 assists and is now 409 assists from breaking the GAC career record. Julianna Mack, of Little Rock, currently holds the team lead in digs with 53.
Ouachita will face-off against Dallas Baptist (2-2, 0-0 Heartland) today at 2 p.m. The Patriots went .500 at the Washburn Invitational last weekend as they
they picked up victories against Washburn and Northwest Missouri State in the process. Dallas Baptist junior Emma Eakin was named to the All-Tournament Team last weekend after a 28-kill weekend.
The Tigers and the Patriots played against one another in the Southeastern Oklahoma State Tournament last season. Ouachita came away with a 3-2 victory. Tabatha Huckabee, from North Richland Hills, Texas, led the Tiger offense with 16 kills in the match.
Ouachita will later host Southwest Baptist at 6 p.m. The Bearcats are currently riding a 23-game losing streak and have not won a match since September 22, 2017, against Pittsburg State.
Southwest Baptist is hitting .027 and has already committed 101 errors. The 2014 season opener was the last time Ouachita and Southwest Baptist played against each other. That season, the Bearcats edged out the Tigers, 3-2.
The Tigers will start things off on Saturday with a noon tip-off against Union University from Tennessee. This is the Bulldogs second consecutive trip to Arkansas. Union traveled to Magnolia last weekend to play in the Dr. Margaret Downing Invitational. Union went 0-4 with a loss to GAC foe Southern Arkansas.
The Bulldogs are led offensively by redshirt freshman Meghan Delaney, who has 39 kills on the season. This will be the first meeting between Ouachita and Union this decade.
Ouachita’s final opponent of the weekend will be Mississippi College at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. The Choctaws also participated in the Downing Invitational and went 2-2 during the tournament. Freshman Kendall Platt finished last weekend with a team-high 64 kills. This will also be the first matchup this decade against Mississippi College.
Live stats and live streams of each match of the tournament will be available online at https://obutigers.com.