ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – On the first day of action of the Reddie-Tiger Invitational, Henderson State records back-to-back sweeps over Christian Brothers and Union. 
 
Christiane Uzoh led the attack in the first match with 11 kills on 22 attacks, hitting an impressive .455. The Beaumont, Texas native also tallied three solo blocks and three digs. Trinity Sharp and Violeta Mendoza Quintana combined for 30 digs, while Madison Hatt supported the attackers with 20 assists.
 
Uzoh and Brae Denton paced the offense in the second match with ten and seven kills, respectively, and were two of four players to hit over .300 for the match. Denton and Luke were a wall at the net with six combined blocks, while Hatt had a double-double with 17 assists and 15 digs.
 
MATCH ONE: HENDERSON STATE 3, CHRISTIAN BROTHERS 0
 
SET ONE
The Reddies trailed Christian Brothers through the first exchanges of the opening frame 9-5 and were forced to use an early timeout. The Lady Bucs stretched their lead to six out of the break to 15-9 after a pair of kills and HSU errors. Henderson began to find its rhythm in the set, cutting CBU's advantage to 15-12 through a kill from Mia Sanchez and two Lady Buc attack errors.  
 
HSU battled back to tie the set 17-17, and Uzoh would catch fire in the last eight points with five kills, including the final swing of the frame to win 25-21. The Reddies hit .173 with 15 kills, led by Uzoh with six kills.
 
SET TWO
HSU had a better start to the second frame, going ahead 3-1 through a kill from Hatt and a block by Uzoh. Back-to-back blocks by the red-and-gray sparked a 3-0 run followed by a 4-0 tear that grew Henderson's advantage to 12-6.
 
HSU continued to hold the lead over Christian Brothers through the next exchanges before stretching its advantage to 24-16 after a 3-0 run. Uzoh notched the final point on a kill set up by Hatt to win the frame 25-16. The Henderson State attack had 13 kills on a .379 attack percentage, while Christian Brothers were held to a .057 attack average.
 
SET THREE
Back-to-back kills by Denton and two more from Uzoh and Sanchez had the Reddies up 5-0 in set three. Christian Brothers used an early timeout to try and slow the HSU attack, but the Reddies kept up the pace, extending their lead to 9-3.
 
CBU cut the Reddies' lead to just two after a 3-0 run, but Henderson responded with a 4-0 tear that had service aces from Hatt and Mendoza Quintana, 14-8. Henderson closed out the set, outscoring CBU 10-2, capped off by three kills from Jagoda Szybinska to win the final frame 25-14.  
 
MATCH TWO: HENDERSON STATE 3, UNION 0?
 
SET ONE
Union was quick out the blocks in the opening set, jumping ahead 6-2. HSU responded with a 3-0 run to cut the UU lead to one, 6-5. The hot-hitting Lady Bulldogs outscored the Reddies 13-2 to stretch its lead to 19-7. HSU matched UU's flurry of attacks with a 12-1 tear to close out the set 25-23 and complete a double-digit point comeback. Luke had three blocks and two kills, while Uzoh had a pair of kills and a block in the final 13 points. 
 
SET TWO
The momentum from the opening frame stayed with the red-and-gray in the second stanza as the team raced out to a 9-1 lead that had two kills from Sanchez and blocks by Luke and Denton. It was the Lady Bulldogs turn to go on a scoring tear with four straight points to slash the HSU lead to 11-8.
 
Luke served up two aces in a 5-0 run that would extend the team's advantage to 17-8. The Reddies' final four points came off errors by the Lady Bulldogs to end a dominant 25-13 set. Henderson finished the set, hitting .321 while holding Union to its lowest attack average of the match as the Lady Bulldogs hit .038 a clip.
 
SET THREE
Henderson opened the scoring in the final set with kills by Mendoza Quintana and Uzoh. From there, the two sides traded the next five points before the Reddies took a three-point advantage after a kill by Uzoh and a UU attack error, 8-5. Henderson stretched its lead with a service ace by Kaylon Partin and back-to-back kills from Mendoza Quintana to 13-7.
 
The Reddies held a three to four-point margin before they took their largest lead of the set on a Lady Bulldog service error, 23-16. Kills by Denton and Sanchez closed out the final frame 25-19. 
 
Henderson State (9-2, 1-0) concludes the Reddie-Tiger Invitational tomorrow with matches against Alaska Anchorage at 1 p.m. and Truman State at 5 p.m.