Box Score (HTML)

ITTA BENA, Mississippi – The University of Arkansas at Monticello volleyball team wrapped up the 2014 regular season with a three-set road win over Mississippi Valley State on Monday night.

Final game scores were 29-27, 25-19 and 25-20. The Blossoms head to the GAC Championship Tournament with a winning overall record at 15-14. UAM is the No. 7 seed in the tournament and is set to face No. 2 seed Southern Nazarene this Thursday, November 13 at 2:30 p.m. in Hot Springs in an eight-team, single-elimination bracket.

In Monday's win over Mississippi Valley (4-23), the Blossoms totaled 36 kills and 21 errors on 102 swings for a .147 team percentage. MVSU had 27 kills and 28 errors on 112 swings for a negative .009 percentage.

UAM fought back from a 24-20 deficit in the first set with four straight points to force extra points. Both teams swapped points over the next four rallies, before the Blossoms pulled away with four of the final five points, including three MVSU attack errors.

The Blossoms jumped out to a big lead early in the second set at 10-1, taking advantage of six errors committed by the Devilettes. Later in the frame, MVSU scored seven straight points to pull to within one at 17-16, but the Blossoms answered with five straight points of their own to rebulld a comfortable lead.

The Devilettes built an early 9-3 lead in the third set, but UAM responded with runs of seven, five and four straight points, respectively, to keep MVSU from preventing the sweep.

Senior Jessica Cuba paced the Blossoms with nine kills and just two errors on 24 swings for a .292 percentage. Junior Sydni Schulz added eight kills, while sophomore Kedra Johnson and junior Bianca Brown each has seven kills.

Sophomore Brittney Beckham and junior Kaila Kikugawa each had 15 assists in the win. Freshman Aspen Luna recorded a new career-high in the win by totaling a match-high 24 digs.  

Halie Gayten led the Devilettes with seven kills.