PENSACOLA, Fla. – A valiant effort fell short, and the West Alabama season came to a close with a 3-0 loss to Arkansas Tech in the quarterfinals at the 2010 Gulf South Conference Volleyball Tournament hosted by West Florida. UWA finishes the season at 10-21 while Arkansas Tech will move on at 31-4.

Senior Thais Hollerbach closed out her career at West Alabama with a team-best day as she finished just shy of a double-double with eight kills and nine digs. The Porto Alegre, Brazil native departs Livingston holding several program records including the best career serve and reception percentages.

Not being dominated, the Tigers stayed close to the West Division's top seed until Arkansas Tech widened the gap with a late run. Neither team hit particularly well in the first set as UWA compiled a .029 hitting percentage compared to .162 for Arkansas Tech, but the Golden Suns capitalized on four service errors by the fourth seed from the East Division en route to a 25-19 set victory.

The Tigers hit better in staying in the second frame, but Tech out-attacked UWA by a .344 to .152 clip to capture the set 25-18. West Alabama once again hung close through much of the period but a 14-7 run by ATU closed out the set.

The third set was not nearly as close as the first two as the deep Tech squad pushed by the Tigers 25-11 to secure the victory.

The Golden Suns rebounded from the slow start to hit .320 for the match while using a strong defensive effort – Tech out-dug the Tigers by a 57-39 margin – to limit UWA to just .074.

The tournament appearance marked the fourth straight for the Tigers.