FORT SMITH– UAFS aced its final regular-season Heartland Conference volleyball match Thursday night, literally.
The Lady Lions served 10 aces against the Newman Jets on their way their way to a three-set win at the Stubblefield Center. UAFS won the match 25-21, 25-21, 25-13 to sweep the regular-season series against Newman, which lost to UAFS in three sets on Oct. 12 at Fugate Gymnasium in Wichita, Kan.
UAFS will finish the regular-season at 1 p.m. on Friday when the Lady Lions host the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm in a nonconference match at the Stubblefield Center.
It will be the seventh Great American Conference team UAFS has played in nonconference play, and the Lady Lions are 6-0 against Great American Conference opponents this season with wins against the league’s current No. 2 team (Harding), No. 3 team (Oklahoma Baptist), No. 6 team (Southern Nazarene), No. 9 team (Henderson State), No. 10 team (University of Arkansas-Monticello) and No. 11 team (East Central).
Live statistics and live stream will be available.
UAFS (24-6, 11-1) already had clinched the outright, regular-season conference title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament before Thursday night’s conference finale. The Lady Lions will host the conference tournament at the Stubblefield Center on Nov. 17-18. UAFS will play either Dallas Baptist or St. Edward’s at 5 p.m. on Nov. 17, and No. 2 seed St. Mary’s will play No. 3 seed Lubbock Christian at 7:30 p.m. The championship match will be at 1 p.m. on Nov. 18.
The conference tournament winner will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division II National Tournament.
UAFS didn’t hit particularly well against Newman – it hit at a 0.156 clip with 36 kills on 135 attempts with 15 errors – but they decimated the Jets with their pinpoint serving. The Lady Lions’ 10 aces were the ninth-most aces in a single match during the program’s NCAA Division II era.
Junior libero Autumn Reese served five aces – seventh-most in a single match during the Lady Lions’ NCAA Division II era – with four of those coming on consecutive serves in the third set to turn a 2-2 game in to a 6-2 lead.
Junior middle hitter Debra Rogers and freshman outside hitter Rachel Williams each had nine kills to lead a balanced UAFS offense. Senior setter Susannah Kelley had 27 assists.
Newman had nine total team blocks. Junior middle blocker Crystal Powell had six block assists to lead the Jets. Newman also had 78 digs with senior libero Anna Burton leading the team with 26 digs.
UAFS held Newman to just a 0.085 hitting percentage with 29 kills on 129 attempts with 18 errors. Senior outside hitter Kayla Turner led the Jets with eight kills, and freshman setter Reagen Roth had 26 assists.
The Lady Lions had seven total blocks. Rogers had three block assists, while sophomore outside hitter Anna Demmer had two solo blocks and one block assist. UAFS had 71 digs. Reece had a team-high 24 digs, while Kelley topped off her double-double with 21 digs.
