STEPHENVILLE, Texas - The University of Arkansas at Monticello volleyball team split the day on Saturday during the 2016 TexAnn Invitiational, hosted by Tarleton University. The Blossoms began the morning with a four-set loss to Eastern New Mexico and ended the afternoon with a three-set victory over Texas-Permian Basin.  

In the morning loss to Eastern New Mexico (4-3), the Blossoms (2-7) were led offensively by Shay Mitchell who led UAM with 14 kills on 41 attempts for a .220 hitting percentage. Mitchell added 16 digs to her stat line as well. Carolina Gasparini totaled 12 kills of her own for the Blossoms. 

Freshman Kendall Vondra recorded a season high 41 assists on the day and tallied 13 digs also. Macy Mitchell led Arkansas-Monticello with 17 total digs and Kya Standford led with a team-high five blocks in the contest. 

The final game scores in the loss to the Lions were 19-25, 25-21, 29-27 and 25-13.

During the afternoon match-up in the victory against Texas-Permian Basin (4-5), Arkansas-Monticello used their defensive front to sweep the Falcons in straight sets. The Blossoms totaled nine blocks on the afternoon compared to UTPB's one. Senior Kya Standford recorded three block assists and three solo blocks to lead UAM and freshman Maggie Pyles added one solo block and two block assists. 

Offensively the Blossoms were led by Senior Carolina Gasparini who tallied 11 kills on 27 swings for a hitting percentage of .370. Setter Kendall Vondra recorded a game-high 32 assists and a team-high 13 digs. 

Final game scores in the win over Texas-Permian Basin were 25-22, 25-12, and 26-24.

UAM is back in action Tuesday, September 13 as the Blossoms open up Great American Conference play against Ouachita Baptist in Monticello at Steelman Fieldhouse with first serve set for 6:00 p.m.