RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Midwestern State volleyball team forced a fourth set against Great American Conference favorite Arkansas Tech, but the home team came back to claim the fourth and take a 3-1 victory (25-16, 25-22, 19-25, 25-15) in the first game of the Arkansas Tech Tournament at Tucker Coliseum.

Freshman middle blocker Kiley Beaver led the Mustangs (3-4) with 11 kills and zero errors on a .478 clip in the match. Senior outside hitter Hunter Porter joined Beaver in double-digit kills with 10.

It was a tight first set until a 5-0 spurt moved the Golden Suns (3-2) in front at 14-10. Arkansas Tech was able to keep a cushion, and built its lead up in the final points as a block from McCall Wilkins and Hunter Eshnaur capped off a 7-2 run to allow the Golden Suns to take the first set, 25-16.

In the second set, the teams battled point for point a majority of the way. With the set tied at 16-all, a kill by Eshnaur sparked a 4-1 run for Arkansas Tech to move the momentum over to the home team.

Kills by Porter and Beaver helped the Mustangs knot the set up at 22-all before the Golden Suns answered with three-straight points to take a 25-22 set win and 2-0 lead in the match.

Midwestern put together a strong start to the third set, jumping out to an 11-6 lead to force an Arkansas Tech timeout.

Back-to-back kills from Porter sandwiched between two attack errors for the Golden Suns built a 15-6 lead for the Mustangs in the third set. Midwestern continued to pull away as a kill from junior defensive specialist Madelyn Johnson and a hitting error for Arkansas Tech forced another timeout with a 20-9 advantage for the visitors.

Midwestern fended off a late run from the Golden Suns to record a 25-19 set win, hitting a match-high .400 attack percentage.

However, after a close start to the fourth set the Golden Suns broke a 7-7 tie with an 11-0 run thanks to a balanced offensive attack. Facing an 18-7 deficit, the Mustangs were unable to answer the Arkansas Tech run with one of their own, falling 25-15 in the fourth.

Freshman setter Hayden Blair led Midwestern with 31 assists while freshman libero Matti Dix tallied a team-high 18 digs.

Arkansas Tech finished held a large advantage at the net with 11 blocks while Midwestern mustered up just three on the day. Eshnaur led the Golden Suns with 15 kills while adding 11 digs for the double-double.

The Mustangs return to the court at 3 p.m. to face Missouri Southern in their second game of the Arkansas Tech Tournament.