UNION BOX SCORE / MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE BOX SCORE

MONTICELLO – The University of Arkansas at Monticello volleyball team stepped out of Great American Conference play to record 3-1 victories over Union University and Mississippi Valley State on Friday at home.

Final game scores of the Union (3-4) victory were 26-24, 25-19, 21-25 and 25-16.

After squeaking by with a 26-24 win in the first set, the Cotton Blossoms responded with their best set of the season, hitting .276 in the second set for a convincing win. However, UAM dropped to .028 in the third set, while Union posted a .216 percentage to force a fourth set. UAM responded with another above .200 percentage in the final stanza to capture their third win of the year.

Sophomore Christina Rini and junior Tusalava Kuaea led the Cotton Blossoms offensively with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while senior Allison Beardsley paced the UAM defense with 16 digs. UAM posted three players in double-digits in the assists category. Junior Haley Goldwater led the team with 14, followed by junior Amy Bazemore with 13 and junior Jaclyn Trinque with 10.

Union was led by Savannah Hughes’ match-high 15 kills.

Final game scores of the win over Mississippi Valley State (1-6)  were 25-14, 24-26, 25-18 and 25-21.

Senior Amy Kleypas had a strong showing in the win over the Devilettes with a match-high 15 kills on 37 attempts with only two errors for a .351 hitting percentage. Beardsley posted her 10^th double-digit effort of the season defensively, and ninth consecutive, with a match-high 19 digs. Trinque aided the UAM offensive attack with 16 assists.

First-year head coach Peter Cruz visited with uamsports.com on Friday following the victories. To view the full interview, visit the following link: http://youtu.be/HNAUuocM308 . The video will also be available at uamsports.com.

UAM is back in action next Tuesday, September 18 on the road against Ouachita Baptist for a GAC contest starting at 7 p.m. in Arkadelphia.