VOLLEYBALL
Harding earns road victory
Two-time defending Great American Conference champion Harding began conference play Tuesday with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-20) victory over Arkansas-Monticello in Monticello.
Liv Savage led all players with 10 kills, while Molly Howard added eight for Harding (4-1, 1-0 GAC). Junior Sydni Schulz led Arkansas-Monticello (1-4, 0-1) with nine kills and 14 digs. Tasha Evans had six kills.
GOLF
Lira leads UCA women
Freshman Fernanda Lira shot a 3-under 69 Tuesday to lead the Central Arkansas women to a third-place finish at the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational in Lawrence, Kan.
Lira shot 77-73-69—219 to finish second, three shots behind medalist Pornvipa Sakdee of Kansas. Senior Malin Senneryd tied for 13th with rounds of 71-71-79—226, and senior Kendra Bishop tied for 21st after shooing 77-78-74—229.
Kansas State shot an 894 to take the team title, followed by host Kansas (900), UCA (907), Texas Tech (908) and Oral Roberts (911). UALR finished sixth with a 916, and Arkansas State was seventh with a 925.
UALR junior Stina Resen finished in a tie for 13th after shooting a 10-over 226. She began the final round tied for fourth, but an 8-over 80 on Tuesday dropped her out of the top 10.
State teams solid at GAC Preview
Harding shot a school-record 861 to finish fourth at the Great American Conference Preview on Tuesday at Lake Hefner Golf Club in Oklahoma City.
Junior Alex Williamson tied the school’s individual 54-hole record of 210 that was set in 1997. Williamson finished in a three-way tie for second with Arkansas Tech senior Jason Purdy, six strokes behind medalist Jake Duvall of Southwestern Oklahoma State. Arkansas Tech senior Alex Mahilk finished in fifth place with a 211.
Southwestern Oklahoma State shot 839 to win the team title, finishing ahead of Arkansas Tech (849) and Southeastern Oklahoma State (859). Henderson State shot an 868 to finish fifth, while Arkansas-Monticello finished seventh and Southern Arkansas finished eighth.
UAM junior Theodor Karlsson and Arkansas Tech junior Brian Belz finished sixth individually at 212, while Henderson State junior Gil Debusscher shot a 215 to finish tied for 12th. HSU sophomore Nate Smith shot 218 to finish in the top 20. Juniors George Adams and Jacob Etherington led Southern Arkansas, finishing tied for 33rd place at 223.
CROSS COUNTRY
Scott earns conference honor
Redshirt junior Dominique Cross was named the SEC women’s runner of the week on Tuesday.
Scott set a 5K course record time of 17 minutes, 12.50 seconds at the adidas/UCI Invitational in Irvine, Calif., on Saturday. It was the second-fastest 5,000-meter time registered by an SEC runner this season.