ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Henderson State gets back to winning ways with a sweep over Northwestern Oklahoma State to improve to 5-2 in conference play and ends the week 1-1.
 
HSU (13-6, 5-2) stuffed the NWOSU attack, holding the Lady Rangers to a .089 attack average, while the Reddies' offense fired on all cylinders, hitting .286 a clip. Leading the attack, Christiane Uzoh had 12 kills on a .304 attack average, followed by Jagoda Szybinska and Violeta Mendoza Quintana with eight kills apiece. Szybinska hit a blistering .667 with zero errors in the match.
 
On the net, Larkin Luke and Szybinska each had four blocks, and Brae Denton tallied three. The Reddies accumulated 45 digs, led by Mendoza Quintana and Trinity Sharp, with a combined 20 over the three sets.
 
SET ONE
The Reddies were fast out of the gate in the first set, racing ahead to a 7-2 lead after kills by Mendoza Quintana, Mia Sanchez and Uzoh. The HSU defense extended Henderson's advantage to 17-10 on three consecutive blocks, including a solo block by Szybinska. HSU scored eight of the final 13 points of the set, capped off by a service from Mendoza Quintana to take the opening frame 25-15.
 
SET TWO
Henderson State was ahead 4-0 early, but the Lady Rangers matched the HSU run with a 4-0 stretch to tie the frame 4-4. The two sides went back and forth before NWOSU held an 8-6 advantage, but the Reddies would retake the edge on a 3-0 run, 9-8.
 
Again, Henderson and Northwestern Oklahoma State went point-for-point with the set tied 16-16. HSU found a breakthrough with two kills by Uzoh and Denton, 19-16, and would grow its lead to four, 24-20, with a pair of blocks by Luke before taking the second set 25-23.
 
SET THREE
Northwestern Oklahoma State had a fast start to the third stanza, jumping out to an 8-3 lead over the Reddies. HSU weathered the early storm, battling back to trail by one, 10-9, after kills by Mendoza Quintana, Denton and Szybinska. Henderson eventually took the lead on a 3-0 tear and would extend its lead to 17-13 with three kills by Uzoh and two from Luke.
 
The red-hot attack for HSU kept up the pace, outscoring NWOSU 7-1 in the final eight points of the set to win the final frame 25-17. The Henderson attack recorded its best attack average of the night, hitting .394 a clip with 18 kills.
 
Henderson State will take a break from GAC action for its next match, when they travel to take on Christian Brothers on Monday, Oct. 9 at 6 p.m.