ADA, Okla. – The Henderson State volleyball team fell on the road to the Tigers of East Central in the Kerr Activities Center 3-1.
 
Brae Denton led HSU (15-7, 6-3) in attack and defense with a career-high 14 kills on a .667 attack average and added five blocks to her totals. Jagoda Szybinska recorded ten kills over the match, while Violeta Mendoza Quintana and Christiane Uzoh combined for 13.
  
SET ONE
The Reddies jumped to an 8-3 lead to start the frame, forcing East Central to use its first timeout. ECU regrouped after the break, cutting HSU's advantage to one on a 4-0 run, but Henderson extended its lead back to three with kills from Mendoza Quintana and Larkin Luke, 10-7.
 
From there, HSU remained ahead for the rest of the frame, holding a two to three-point margin. Four straight kills at the end by Madison Hatt, Mia Sanchez, Luke and Uzoh capped off a 25-18 set win. The Reddies tallied 14 kills on a .273 attack average and got some help from eight errors by ECU.
 
SET TWO
Henderson kept up the momentum from the last frame, racing out to an 8-3 lead with kills from Denton, Sanchez and Uzoh. The Reddies matched ECU point for point to continue to hold a five-point advantage as Luke and Szybinska combined for two kills, 12-7.
 
A flurry of attacks by the Tigers saw them take their second lead of the set, 18-16, outscoring the Reddies 8-2. ECU kept up the pace with a 6-1 stretch to grow its lead to 24-18 before getting the final point of the set, 25-20.
 
SET THREE
Tied 1-1 in the match, East Central had the hot start, leading 6-3 through the early exchanges. The Tigers did not allow the Reddies to close the gap as they held a one-point margin over the red-and-gray before stretching their lead to 14-8 on a 5-0 run. Henderson matched ECU's 5-0 run with six straight points, including three kills by Denton, to tie the set 14-14.  
 
Uzoh and Sanchez each tallied a kill to give HSU a 17-16 lead, but the Tigers came roaring back to snatch the advantage 22-19 on a 5-1 tear. Three straight points by East Central finished off the set 25-23. 
 
SET FOUR
Henderson State and East Central were deadlocked at 4-4, and the Tigers would be the first to find the breakthrough on a 6-0 run to lead 10-4. The Reddies began to chip away at ECU's lead with a pair of kills from Denton and Szybinska, cutting the deficit to one, 14-13. The Tigers used their first timeout, but it did not slow HSU down as they went on a 5-0 run to take the lead 20-17.
 
East Central used its final timeout, and the two sides would trade points after the break before a 7-1 run by ECU finished off the set 25-23 as the Tigers took the match 3-1.

The Reddies return home for back-to-back matches at the Duke Wells Center on Oct. 20-21 against Oklahoma Baptist and Southern Nazarene.