MAGNOLIA, Arkansas — The University of Arkansas at Monticello volleyball split a pair of matches at a tri-match hosted by Southern Arkansas on Tuesday night. The Blossoms fell to SAU in five sets in Great American Conference action before picking up a three-set non-conference win over Central Baptist.

The Blossoms (9-15, 1-11 GAC) jumped out to a one-set lead in the first match of the day with a 25-16 win over the Lady Muleriders in the opening set. However, SAU (14-12, 6-6 GAC) responded with wins in both of the next two sets at 25-17 and 25-15. The Blossoms forced a fifth and deciding set by winning the fourth frame 25-20 before SAU sealed the win by winning 15-10 in the final set.

As a team, the Blossoms picked up 58 kills and 20 errors on 165 attempts in the loss to SAU for a .230 percentage. Junior Carolina Gasparini and senior Sydni Schulz paced the Blossoms offensively with 17 kills each. Junior Aliyssa Theis finished just one assist shy of her second match of the year reaching the 40 mark.

Defensively, Gasparini and senior Kaila Kikugawa led the back row with 16 digs each.

Final game scores in the win over CBC were 25-15, 25-22 and 25-12. UAM totaled 38 kills and 13 errors on 99 swings for a .253 percentage.

Gasparini and Schulz again reached double-digits in kills with 15 and 10, respectively. It was Gasaparini's fourth straight double-digit kills performance and 12th overall of the season.

Theis again led the Blossoms in assists with 29, while Kikugawa had 10 digs for her 13th consecutive match in double-digits and 20th of the season.

The Blossoms open a three-match home stand next Tuesday against Arkansas Tech. First serve is set for 6 p.m. inside Steelman Field House.