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SEMIFINAL SCORES
#3 Murray State 3, #7 Eastern Illinois 1 (21-25, 26-24, 25-19, 25-17)
#1 Austin Peay 3, #4 Eastern Kentucky 1 (19-25, 25-12, 25-14, 25-12)
MURRAY STATE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - For the second consecutive day, the Murray State volleyball team rallied for a four-set victory after dropping the first set of the match as the Racers defeated Eastern Illinois Friday in Clarksville, Tenn. Set scores went 21-25, 26-24, 25-19 and 25-17.
In addition to losing the first set, MSU (22-8) found itself trailing 7-0 in the second set before an 11-2 run by the Racers put it in the lead and the rest was history.
Rachel Holthaus had another huge match for the Racers in the victory as she tallied a match-high 15 kills while hitting .577. Rachel Giustino added 14 kills and 12 digs while Dacia Brown had 12 kills and Katirah Johnson chipped in with 11. Johhnson also led the way with five total blocks in the match.
For the match, both teams hit over .200 as a team as the Racers hit .247 and the Panthers (15-15) hit .208. After hitting just .023 in the opening set, MSU hit .310, .421 and .263 in the remaining three sets. The Racers also had a huge advantage in the serving game as they notched a season-high 12 service aces while EIU had three. The Panthers did out-block MSU in the contest 11-6.
Callie Anderton came on late in the first set and led the way with 42 assists in the victory. Becca Fernandez led team with a match-high 24 digs. Fernandez along with Courtney Radle each tallied four service aces. Alex Kaufmann had a pair of aces and also recorded seven digs.
The win is the Racers’ seventh straight and it also marks their fourth consecutive trip to the OVC Tournament championship match. MSU is 2-1 in the previous three winner-take-all matches.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 1
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team leaned heavily on freshman Brooke Moore and she responded with a career-high 22 kills in a four-set (19-25, 25-12, 25-14, 25-12) victory against Eastern Kentucky in the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference volleyball Championship’s semifinal round, Friday night at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (29-4), which set the program record for wins in a season, advances to the championship match and will face defending OVC tournament champion Murray State in a noon, Saturday contest at the Dunn Center. It will be the Governors fifth OVC tournament championship match appearance and first since 2010.
Eastern Kentucky (13-19) jumped out to the better start, opening the match with a 4-1 run and fending off an Austin Peay four-point rally that tied the set 6-6. The Colonels scored six of the next nine points to build a 12-9 lead and did not look back.
But Austin Peay asserted itself in each of the next three sets thanks to Moore and the serving of redshirt junior Christina White. The Governors were safely in control of the second set, 16-9, but White stepped to the service line and led the Govs to an 8-0 run that broke the frame open. In the third the Govs led 13-11 but White again served up 10 consecutive points to put the set out of reach.
The fourth frame was more back and forth until White pieced together three points in her service rotation, giving the Govs a 15-10 lead. But senior Ashley White put the contest away with eight points on her turn at the line, and Moore sealed the win with her 22nd kill.
Moore’s 22-kill performance, the second-best total by a Govs hitter this season, came with a .347 attack percentage and saw her nearly post a 20-20 effort as she added 18 digs and notched a team-best six blocks.
Austin Peay finished the night with a season-high 16 blocks and posted an impressive 74 digs. Moore’s six blocks paved the way in the front row where six different Govs ended the night with a block. Senior Allie O’Reilly paced the back row with 21 digs – one of five Govs to finish the night with 10 or more digs.
Celina Sanks led Eastern Kentucky with an 18-kill, 13-dig effort. However, the Colonels were limited to a .095 team attack percentage by the Govs strong defensive showing.