ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Henderson State went up against a tough-nosed Auburn-Montgomery team Friday evening and came out with the 3-1 victory, 25-22, 25-17, 14-25, 25-15, on day one of the Reddie-Tiger Invitational.
 
Mya Robinson secured a double-double with 11 kills and 19 digs. Tyasia McGruder had a season-high eight kills in the effort while Violeta Mendoza Quintana had six kills and 10 digs.
 
SET ONE
Coming off a five-set thrilling victory against Arkansas-Monticello just hours before, Auburn-Montgomery looked fresh as it raced out to a 5-1 lead before HSU could even blink. After HSU caught its breath, however, the match was on as the host Reddies tied it up at 6-6 before claiming a 11-9 lead shortly thereafter.
 
The Warhawks refused to go away, even retaking the lead at 21-20 off a 4-0 run. Henderson was able to close the deal, though, with a 5-1 run to take the opening set, 25-22. The Reddies held AUM to a .088 attack percentage to get things going inside the Duke Wells Center.
 
SET TWO
Henderson played one of its best sets from a defensive standpoint all season in the second frame, forcing the Warhawks into a -.105 attack percentage. Thanks to 12 attack errors from Auburn-Montgomery, HSU ran away with the second frame, 25-17.
 
SET THREE
Earlier in the day, AUM dropped the first two sets to Arkansas-Monticello before rattling off three straight to defeat the Cotton Blossoms, 3-2. Upon staring defeat in the face again, a gutsy Warhawks squad played its best set of the evening, hitting .233 while holding HSU to .048 to take the third set, 25-14.
 
With HSU never able to string along more than two points in a row except for once when it put together a four-point run, Auburn-Montgomery saw its biggest lead of the match come in that frame, continuing play with the 25-14 win.
 
SET FOUR
With the Reddies eager to finish the match and the Warhawks refusing to call it an early evening, both teams' fans had the Duke Wells Center rocking in what would wind up being the final set of the match. Despite HSU jumping out to an early lead, the scoreboard showed a 10-10 stalemate halfway through.
 
From that point, Robinson took over as the junior outside hitter delivered three of the next four HSU points to give the home team a lead it would never relent. With the Reddies seeing an eventual advantage of 19-15, the final six points came from coach Phil McDaniel's squad as HSU muscled its way to the 25-15 victory.  
 
Henderson State (9-2, 1-0) will return to action tomorrow for a double-header with match one coming against the same Warhawks team at 11:30 before closing out the 2021 Reddie-Tiger Invitational against Mississippi College at 3 p.m.