Box Score FORT SMITH, Ark. – Hilltopper MEREDITH BARD had a career high 19 kills in Thursday nights' four-set loss to Arkansas-Fort Smith, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17, and 26-24.
 
In the first set, the two teams traded leads, tying for the final time at 10-10. St. Edward's (10-5, 5-3 HC) looked to pull away, but a short three-point rally at 14-13, in favor of Arkansas-Fort Smith (15-2, 7-0 HC), gave the Lions the advantage. The Hilltoppers responded with a four-point run of their own sparked by a kill from COURTNEY TREVINO, but was unsuccessful in regaining the lead. Arkansas-Fort Smith regained composure and went on to win the set, 25-22.
 
St. Edward's came out strong in the second set led by kills from MARY KOEHLER and Bard to take the lead 8-6. The small lead and the Hilltopper defense proved too much for Arkansas-Fort Smith as they were unable to put a rally together and trailed the rest of the set. St. Edward's offense continued to add points taking advantage of errors by the Lions as a kill from Bard would close out the set, 25-22.
 
Arkansas-Fort Smith came out early in the third set as Jordan Pickett led the Lions to an 11-5 lead. With Arkansas-Fort Smith up, 13-10 the Hilltoppers began to slowly chip away at the lead but were cut short by a long 6-1 run by the Lions to put them ahead 19-11. Arkansas-Fort Smith would go on to win the set, 25-17.
 
In the fourth set, St. Edward's took momentum early on with an 11-6 lead with the help of three kills each from Bard and Trevino. The Lions responded with a four-point run to bring the score within one, 11-10. The two teams exchanged kills before back-to-back kills from Shannon Wilson sparked a five-point rally to put the Hilltoppers on top, 20-15. With the set looking in favor of St. Edward's, Arkansas-Fort Smith fought back with a vengeance capitalizing on miscues from the Hilltoppers to tie up the set, 22-22. A Lion error and kill from Ale'tra Ware hoped to end the threat but a kill from Jordan Erz and three from Heidi Luks gave Arkansas-Fort Smith their final run to win the set, 26-24.
 
Alongside Bard, Trevino and Ware led the Hilltoppers' offense with 12 and 11 kills, respectively.MARY MCNAMARA tallied 32 assists and 13 digs, with MICHELLE HUNDT finishing with 36 digs.
 
For the Lions, Luks dished out an impressive 27 kills and 14 digs. Teammates Pickett and Erz followed with 14 and 11 kills, respectively.
 
St. Edward's will continue on the road as they travel to Wichita, Kansas on Saturday to face off against Newman. The match is set for noon.