FRIDAY’S SCORES
@Morehead State 3, Tennessee Tech 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-18)
Jacksonville State 3, @Eastern Kentucky 2 (25-16, 25-15, 24-26, 19-25, 15-13)
@Southeast Missouri 3, SIUE 0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-18)
@Tennessee Tech 3, Murray State 0 (25-15, 28-26, 26-24)
@UT Martin 3, Eastern Illinois 1 (25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22)
MOREHEAD STATE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Junior libero Leslie Schellhaas piled up 20 digs, while senior right side hitter Ellie Roberson put away 16 kills on a .462 hitting efficiency as the Morehead State volleyball team extended its winning streak to 17 via a 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 18-25) victory over visiting Tennessee Tech Friday at Wetherby Gym.
The Eagles upped their overall mark to 19-6 and stayed perfect in conference tilts at 11-0. MSU's 17-match unbeaten string tied No. 2 Stanford and No. 19 Western Kentucky for the nation's longest. TTU fell to 2-21 overall and 0-11 in league contests.
After racing to a 5-0 first-set lead, the host squad saw Tech rattle off six straight to take its only lead of the match, 6-5. A 6-1 MSU run swung the momentum back in the defending OVC champions' favor.
Roberson, who slammed 32 kills down against Tech just two weeks ago, took 26 swings tonight and connected on 16 with just four errors as the conference leader in hitting efficiency eclipsed the .400 plateau for the seventh time this season. Schellhaas collected 20 digs despite suffering a bloody nose following a TTU block midway through the third frame. She returned and chalked up eight scoops in the third set alone.
Senior setter Caitlin Clark added 34 assists and seven digs, while senior middle blocker Annie Gruenschlaeger led the Eagles with five total blocks. Sophomore middle blocker Laura McDermott hit .455 and added three rejections.
MSU held the Golden Eagles to .109 hitting. Audrey Lewis put forth Tech's best stat line with seven kills off a .438 attack percentage. OVC block leader Kelsey Gray had seven tonight.
Morehead State finished with advantages in kills (49-24), assists (43-23), digs (49-37) and blocks (8-7).
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky lost the first two sets but came out of the half to win sets three and four and send the match into a decisive fifth. However, the comeback fell short in a 3-2 loss to Jacksonville State on Friday.
EKU (7-15, 4-7 OVC) lost by scores of 16-25, 15-25, 26-24, 25-19 and 13-15.
The Colonels’ Alexis Plagens and Ashley Edmond contributed 15 kills each while Kelsey Kuehner had 11. Mallory Moffat had 37 assists alongside Dena Ott’s 24 digs.
Jacksonville State is now 12-13 this season and 6-5 in the OVC.
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JSU’s Emily Rutherford and Jen Meyer had 17 kills each while Alina Agamy dealt 61 assists. Hivya Leite had 16 kills respectively with 11 in the second set alone.
In the third set, two kills by Plagens gave EKU the win after being tied 24-24. The Colonels went on an 11-4 run to win set four.
The fifth set went back and fourth. Eastern Kentucky took a 13-12 lead on a kill by Plagens before the Gamecocks scored three straight to win the match.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, MURRAY STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee State volleyball team (14-10, 8-3 OVC) stopped the Racers in straight sets (25-15, 28-26, 26-24) on the first night of "Pink Out".
Junior setter Erika Moss recorded 41 assists in the match and played a big part in the Tiger's .287 hitting percentage.
Sophomore Naomi Wells led the Tigers with 16 kills, but Rachel Ambroch, Sherryce Butler and Lindsay Hornsby each had at least seven kills in the match.
Wells also led the team in digs with 15 and senior libero Britani Hathorn added 12 to fuel the team's 44 digs during the match.
Butler started off the match with a kill to put the Tigers in the driver's seat early, and TSU quickly made the score 4-0 with kills from Wells and Hornsby. The Tigers retained their advantage at 7-3 before Murray State (4-18, 2-10 OVC) called its first timeout of the match. The stoppage didn't stop the Tigers as Moss extended her team's lead to six later in the match with a rare kill. Hathorn then recorded her first service ace of the match a few points later to make the score 14-8 in favor of TSU. Butler slammed home a kill off of a Moss assist that fooled the defense into guessing the wrong side, and the route was on. TSU went on a 9-4 run to end the set with Butler recording the set-winning point.
Seven different attackers recorded kills for the Tigers during the first frame and TSU hit .429 compared to Murray State's .143.
The teams played to a 3-3 tie to start the second period, but the Racers took the lead from there with a pair of attacks. The Tigers immediately grasped the lead with a 4-0 run. However, the Racers fought back to take a one-point lead at 10-9 when an attack from Wells was sent right back with a Murray State block. The Racers added to their lead later in the set with another block off of an Ambroch attack. Not to be outdone, Hornsby recorded a block of her own and Ambroch racked up an ace to tie the frame at 14. With the set still tied, TSU got back-to-back points from Butler to take a narrow lead. The Racers came back yet again and the score was eventually 22-21 in their favor. Murray State called time in hopes of holding off the Tigers, but Wells tied the score for the 12th time with a finesse kill that fell between the Murray State defense. Freshman Emilie Sandve Aase had her fourth kill of the match, but the Racers wouldn't go down easily. Three more ties occurred down the stretch, but the Tigers finally won the set when Murray State recorded its sixth error of the frame.
The Racers out-hit the Tigers .273 to .245 in the period, but TSU had five more attacks.
Wells opened the third set with a kill and Ambroch had two aces as the Tigers roared to an early 9-1 lead. Murray State countered with a 6-2 run, but the Racers' momentum has halted with a service error. Butler added a solo block later in the frame, but TSU attacks kept falling wide, keeping Murray State within striking distance at 14-12. The Tigers were up by just one later in the set, but freshman Jordan Piper hit an un-returnable attack to make the score 19-17 in favor of TSU. The teams traded blows for the next few points, but an error by Piper tied the score at 24. Freshman Jaime Cooper finally ended the match with an ace that ricocheted off of two Murray State players.
Ambroch finished the match with three service aces.
Senior Wendi Zickfield was the only Racer to post double-digit kills in the match with 12, while classmate Lia Havili led the way in assists with 20. Zickfield also led the team in digs on the night with 13 for her first double-double of the season and seventh of her career.
UT MARTIN 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Freshman middle blocker Shelby Hoskins piled up 14 kills to go along with a .591 attack percentage this evening to lead The University of Tennessee at Martin volleyball team to a 3-1 Ohio Valley Conference victory over Eastern Illinois (25-22, 25-22, 20-25, 25-22) at Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
Hoskins had only one error amongst her 22 attempts, helping the Skyhawks to a season-high .325 hitting percentage (59 kills against 19 errors in 123 attempts). Sophomore Emily Keaton also tallied a team-high 14 kills while redshirt freshman Taylor Simons cracked double-figures in the kill column (10) as well. Setter Amanda Crask also pieced together a stellar night, finishing with a final line of nine kills (with only two errors), 44 assists, six digs and three blocks for UT Martin, who improves to 9-16 overall with a 5-6 OVC record.
Defensively, OVC career digs leader Kasey Elswick recorded a match-high with 14 digs, while Hoskins’ five blocks (two solo) paced four Skyhawks with multi-block outings.
UT Martin got off to a 3-1 lead in the first set but fell behind after the Panthers pieced together three unanswered points. >From there, no team led by more than two points until Eastern Illinois took an 11-9 lead. Back-to-back kills by Keaton gave UT Martin the lead back at 14-13, but the Panthers would later use a 5-1 run to go ahead by a 19-16 margin. The Skyhawks wouldn’t trail by any more than three points until a final push clinched the set. Trailing 22-19, UT Martin ended the set on a 6-0 run, concluding with a Hoskins service ace.
Keaton enjoyed a remarkable first set, tallying seven kills (against one error) in nine attempts, while Hoskins (four kills on five swings) and Crask (14 assists) also paced a Skyhawk offense that tallied 19 kills and a .438 attack percentage.
The Skyhawks shook off a slow start (down 3-1) in the second set to take their first lead at 6-5 off a Simons service ace. UT Martin would extend its advantage out to 8-5 and from that point on would not trail for the duration of the set. Four ties would occur in the middle stages of the set but the Skyhawks eventually took a 21-18 lead thanks to kills by Simons, Allie Whimpey and Hoskins, forcing Eastern Illinois to burn a timeout. The Panthers would eventually creep within one point (23-22) before an assisted block by Keaton and Hoskins and a Keaton kill wrapped up the set for UT Martin.
Hoskins had four kills on six attempts in the second set, while Crask (dozen assists) and Elswick (six digs) helped lead the Skyhawks to the early 2-0 advantage.
UT Martin led 5-2 in the earlygoing of the third set but Eastern Illinois responded with a 4-0 run to lead by a point. The Skyhawks reclaimed the lead at 9-8 off a Crask service ace but three more ties followed before the Panthers scored three straight to lead 13-11. After UT Martin tied the match at 14-all, Eastern Illinois answered with four straight points. Back-to-back kills by Whimpey and Hoskins pulled UT Martin within two at 22-20, but the Panthers came right back with three straight points to claim the set.
Hoskins continued her perfect evening to that point with three kills on six attempts in the third set, while Crask compiled 10 assists for UT Martin.
The Panthers led 4-2 to begin the fourth set, but Simons’ second kill of the set closed UT Martin’s gap to 6-5. Eastern Illinois soon expanded its lead out to four (10-6) but the Skyhawks gradually cut their deficit until a brief 3-0 run gave UT Martin a 14-13 advantage, capped off by a kill by Crask. The Panthers quickly regained the lead, however, and led 21-19 late before Hoskins took over. The New Albany, Ind. native compiled two kills, an assisted block and solo block in a crucial 5-0 run that surged UT Martin ahead by a 24-21 margin. Simons ended the match with a kill to give the Skyhawks the big OVC victory.
Crask (four kills, no errors in six attempts, eight assists) guided UT Martin in the fourth and final set.
Abby Saalfrank paced a trio of Panthers with double-digit kill totals, as the freshman finished with a team-high 15 put-downs and a .500 attack. Junior Reynae Hutchinson and newcomer Kayla Nesbitt followed with 15 and 10 kills, respectively, as Nesbitt's one-error .529 clip topped the EIU offense.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, SIUE 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri volleyball team remained perfect against the West Division of the Ohio Valley Conference with a sweep (25-23, 25-23, 25-28) of SIUE Friday evening at Houck Field House.
The Redhawks move to 17-10 overall and 9-2 in the OVC after the victory as the Cougars drop to 8-14 overall and 4-7 in the league.
Senior Brittney Kalinoski led Southeast with 14 kills on the night. She also added 15 kills defensively.
The Redhawks took the first set 25-23 after recording 18 kills in the frame hitting at a match-high .308 clip. The Redhawks never trailed in the opening set.
Southeast fell behind 7-2 early in the second frame. The Redhawks battled back on a 8-2 run to tie the set at 14-14.
SIUE took a three point lead at 21-18 late in the frame as they looked to tie the match at 1-1. The Redhawks rallied in the stanza as they closed out the set on a 7-2 run to take the frame 25-23.
Southeast domintated the third frame taking the frame 25-18. Southeast led by as much as 10 at 24-14, but a late run by the Cougars pulled them within seven.
Junior Emily Coon capped off her 12 kills performance with the match-winning kill as Southeast earned the sweep.
Berkley Idel paced the Southeast defense on the night with 25 digs.
Julie Shives added 32 assists on the night to pace the Redhawk attack.
Emma Anderson and Kelsey Augustine led the Cougars with 11 kills apiece.