Arkansas Tech volleyball saw its stay in the 2010 Gulf South Conference Tournament halted here Saturday afternoon as the Golden Suns fell in four sets to North Alabama (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-18) in the semifinals of the tournament at the UWF Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of West Florida.

Tech, who was playing in its first GSC Tournament semifinal match since 2002, struggled offensively against the East Division No. 2 seeded Lady Lions as Tech was held to a .175 hitting percentage and committed 26 attack errors and were outblocked, 13-4 in the loss.

With the loss, Tech, who falls to 31-5 overall on the season, more likely has played its last volleyball match of the season as the Golden Suns were ranked ninth in the most recent NCAA D-II South Regional rankings that were released last Wednesday. Only eight teams from each of the eight regions advance to the NCAA Tournament, which will be announced on Sunday evening on www.NCAA.com by the D-II Volleyball Committee.

In Saturday’s match, both teams battled as there were 12 ties and five lead changes, with a majority of the lead changes (three) coming in the first set.

UNA (21-8) won the first set thanks to outhitting Tech, .227 to.136. In the first set, Tech recorded seven attack errors and had 13 kills. In the second set, Tech rebounded as it recorded 14 kills and five errors and hit .209, while holding UNA to a .116 hitting percentage. In the second set, UNA pulled within 23-22 following a block by Ari Smith, before Tech won the set thanks to back-to-back kills by freshman middle blocker Sara Motsinger (Normal, Ill.) and senior middle blocker Sarah Von Lienen (Lakeland, Tenn.).

The third set was another hard fought one as Tech trailed 23-17, before using a 5-1 run capped by a Von Lienen kill to pull within 24-22. UNA, though, would prevail on a kill from Sarah Roberts to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Meanwhile, in the fourth set, Von Lienen, who was named this year’s GSC West Division Player of the Year, opened with a powerful kill, but the Lady Lions responded with an 8-0 run that Tech couldn’t recover from.