HOT SPRINGS, Arkansas – In the quarterfinals of the 2021 GAC Tournament, six seed Henderson State fell to the third seed Arkansas Tech Golden Suns, 25-23, 25-20, 25-23. The Reddies hit .093 on the afternoon while ATU hit .194.
 
To close out their Henderson careers, Makenzie Thoman saw a match-high 19 digs while Tyasia McGruder and Mya Robinson combined for 11 kills. Taylor Scalzi matched Madison Hatt with 14 assists to pace the team.  
 
SET ONE
The Reddies came out of the gate firing, opening the match with a quick three straight points. Arkansas Tech gathered itself and wound up tying the match at 11-11. From there, Tech mustered an 8-2 run to take a 19-13 advantage before HSU head coach Phil McDaniel called his second timeout of the frame.
 
That timeout proved useful as it was HSU's turn to rattle off a slew of points, going on its own 8-3 run to come within one of the Golden Suns, 22-21. After Tech's final timeout came and went, the Reddies kept it up and eventually took the lead, 23-22. Arkansas Tech's head coach Kera Dukic's squad dug deep and secured the final three points of the set to take a 25-23 opening victory.  
 
SET TWO
Again, HSU jumped out to an early lead, 2-0, before the Golden Suns scored the next six points to see a 6-2 lead. At 13-8, the Reddies once more threatened the Tech lead with five unanswered points to knot it up at 13. After a Tech timeout, a 5-0 run from the three seed turned into a 25-20 win, putting Arkansas Tech ahead in the overall match, 2-0.
 
SET THREE
This time around, the two teams stayed throughout the early part of the frame. At 15-15, Arkansas Tech delivered the nail in the coffin with a quick 3-0 spurt to jump ahead, 18-15. Back-to-back points from HSU brought in within one, but that would be the closest the Reddies would get as Tech came out with the 25-23 final nod.
 
Henderson State closes its season after reaching double-digit wins for the third time in four years and punching its ticket to the GAC Tournament for the fourth straight year. From McDaniel's group, Thoman and Violeta Mendoza Quintana earned All-GAC First-Team honors while Christiane Uzoh was named an All-GAC Honorable Mention.
 
Thoman was also named the GAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. The Francis Howell High School product finished her final campaign at HSU with 604 digs on the year and 1812 for her career.