ADA, Oklahoma — The University of Arkansas at Monticello volleyball team opened its Great American Conference road trip in eastern Oklahoma with a five-set loss to East Central on Friday evening.

The Blossoms (8-13, 1-9 GAC) won the first two sets 25-16 and 25-13, but the Tigers (4-16, 1-9 GAC) rallied to win the next three sets 25-15 and 25-16 and 18-16. It was UAM's second five-set match of the season. The first was in a win over Texas A&M-International in the season opening tournament in Denton, Texas.

After a back-and-forth rally early in the opening set, the Blossoms ran out to a 17-6 lead following five straight points in what turned out to be a 7-1 scoring run. UAM maintained its 10-point lead until it reached set point at 24-12, when the Tigers rallied for four straight points.

The Blossoms opened the second set by jumping out to an 8-3 lead in a rally that included two kills from sophomore Aubrey Harrison. UAM took the set on a pair of kills and a block from junior Kya Standford in the final four rallies.

After taking a 2-1 lead early in the third frame, the Tigers never trailed to force a fourth set. ECU had streaks of six, five and four straight points in the set. With the exception of three tie scores early in the fourth set, the Tigers led for the majority of the fourth set to force a fifth and deciding game.

In the fifth set, the Blossoms held the advantage 8-4 at the bench swap. ECU responded by winning the point on seven of the next nine rallies to take an 11-10 lead. UAM senior Sydni Schulz responded with a pair of kills to put the Blossoms back on top 12-11, but the Tigers appeared to be in position to take the match by taking the next three rallies to go up 14-12.

Schulz and Harrison posted kills for the Blossoms to start a back-and-forth exchange over the next four rallies before the Tigers secured their first GAC victory with back-to-back kills from Madyson Gill and Madeline Meyer.

UAM finished the match with 52 kills and 33 errors on 167 swings for a .114 percentage. The Tigers had 49 kills and 21 errors on 146 swings for a .192 percentage.

Schulz led UAM with 16 kills and 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Junior Carolina Gasparini had 10 kills, followed by Standford and Harrison with nine each. Senior Kaila Kikugawa paced the UAM defense with 22 digs, followed by senior Lani Kaiwi with 15. Junior Dianna Etienne had 35 assists.

UAM posted 22 block assists in the loss, led by junior Kedra Johnson with eight and Standford with seven.

The Blossoms are back in action on Saturday at Southeastern Oklahoma State. First serve is 1 p.m. in Durant.