FRIDAY’S SCORES
@Belmont 3, Jacksonville State 0 (25-23, 25-10, 25-20)
@Southeast Missouri 3, Austin Peay 1 (25-16, 25-20, 26-28, 25-19)
@Tennessee State 3, Tennessee Tech 0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-21)
@SIUE 3, Eastern Kentucky 0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-19
@UT Martin 3, Murray State 1, (25-20, 19-25, 25-23, 25-20)
Morehead State 3, Eastern Kentucky 2 (25-22, 25-13, 22-25, 22-25, 15-12)
BELMONT 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - - Belmont University volleyball defeated Jacksonville State in straight sets, 25-23, 25-10, 25-20, Friday night.
Despite a boisterous student crowd of over 500 on hand, Belmont couldn't find its rhythm early in set one. The visiting Gamecocks scored four of the first five points and maintained control much of the early going. A kill from Lauren Busing gave JSU a 16-11 lead before a timeout from head coach Deane Webb.
The Gamecocks extended to a six point lead, before the Bruins orchestrated one of the best single-set comebacks of the year. Three straight kills from sophomore Scarlet Gable (Munford, Tenn.) got Belmont with 18-17. A kill from junior Hannah Miranda (Covington, La.) tied the score at 23. The monumental comeback was complete after a kill from sophomore Alex Martin (Ooltewah, Tenn.) and a JSU attack error.
Belmont may have only hit a pedestrian .182 in the opening set, but the stirring comeback pumped the Bruins up for a fine showing in set two.
A kill from junior Jen Myer (New Braunfels, Texas) capped a 4-0 Belmont run to open scoring, and things were just beginning. The Bruins scored five straight points on Miranda's serve midway through the set, as a 10-2 run pushed the margin to 20-7.
Another Gable putaway allowed the Bruins to close set two, 25-10. The Bruins also held JSU to .054 in set two.
Belmont tallied a remarkable 21 kills on 40 attacks in set two, committing only one attack error for a sparkling .500 hitting percentage.
More solid play from Miranda and Myer enabled Belmont to seize a 10-5 lead in set three. Martin chimed in for two more putaways, before amazingly Myer recorded four straight kills to give the Bruins a 19-10 advantage.
JSU closed to 24-20, before a service error ended the match.
Things were a bit amusing for the game statisticians, as each team boasted an outside hitter named Jen Myer - JSU's version spelling her last name Meyer.
Six Belmont players hit over .250 for the match.
Myer led Belmont with a double-double of 11 kills and 11 digs, while Miranda tallied 39 assists, 13 digs, five kills and four aces. Junior Jamie Lundstrom (La Grange, Ill.) continued her fine defensive play with a match-high 23 digs for three sets. In fact, four Bruins had double figure digs.
Hivya Leite led Jacksonville State (9-10, 3-2 OVC) with 10 kills.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, AUSTIN PEAY 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri volleyball team remained perfect in Ohio Valley Conference play with a 3-1 win over Austin Peay Friday evening at Houck Field House. The Redhawks improve to 13-7 overall and 5-0 in the OVC as the Lady Govs fall to 8-12 and 2-3 in the conference.
Southeast Missouri continued their Dig for Life Campaign Friday as they honored survivors of Breast Cancer in between the second and third sets.
Southeast was led by Colleen Yarber as she recorded a double-double with 18 kills and 11 digs. She hit .289 on the night.
Setter Julie Shives also added a double-double with a season-high 50 assists and 11 digs helping the Redhawks hit .269 as a team on the evening.
The Redhawks got off to a fast start in the first set taking the opening frame 25-16. Southeast hit an impressive .467 in the set with 15 kills and only one error.
Southeast used a 9-3 run to jump out to a 13-7 lead to take control of the opening frame. The Redhawks forced five Lady Govs errors in the stretch.
Southeast took the second frame thanks to the presence of Taylor Masterson in the middle as the Redhawks took the frame 25-20. Masterson was marvelous in the run with three kills and four blocks.
Austin Peay used 12-7 run to tie the stanza at 17-17, but Southeast closed out the second frame on a 8-3 run.
APSU took the third frame 28-26, The Redhawks hit a match-low .196 with seven errors.
The Redhawks took the final set 25-19 as they held the Lady Govs to a .036 hitting percentage with seven kills and six errors. The Redhawks used six service aces in the final frame including the match point as they took the match 3-1.
Senior Brittney Kalinoski added 13 kills and a team-high 12 digs. Emily Coon added 12 kills hitting a sizzling .427.
Masterson added five blocks in the middle for the Southeast.
Austin Peay's Nikki Doyle added a match-high 23 kills. Jada Stotts also added 18 kills for the APSU offense.
SIUE 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball kept getting stronger as the match progressed Friday and collected a three-set victory over Eastern Kentucky at the Vadalabene Center.
SIUE improved to 3-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 7-9 overall after a 25-23, 25-20, 25-18 victory over the Colonels, now 4-11 overall and 1-4 in the OVC.
Emma Anderson powered the Cougars early by picking up seven of her team-leading 12 kills in the first set. Freshman Kristen Torre came on strong late with seven of her 11 kills in the third set.
SIUE finished with 39 kills and a team hitting percentage of .207. Kelsey Augustine proved the most efficient with her offense with a .462 hitting percentage behind six kills and no attack errors.
Defense proved to be a valuable weapon for the Cougars. SIUE equaled its season best in blocks with 10. Torre led the team with six followed by four from Augustine and three each from Anderson and Cori Harris.
EKU struggled on offense and finished with a .009 hitting percentage that included 28 kills and 27 errors. Ashley Edmond led the Colonels with seven kills.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee State volleyball team won its fourth OVC contest of the season by defeating Tennessee Tech 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-21).
Leading the way for the Tigers (9-8, 4-1) was freshman middle blocker Lindsay Hornsby who had a team-high and career-best 18 kills.
Defensively, senior libero Britani Hathorn tallied 14 digs and four assists, but junior setter Erika Moss led the Tigers in that category with a match-high 42 assists.
Tennessee Tech (2-15, 0-5) opened the match with an 8-2 run that was highlighted by three blocks. The Tigers clawed back with a pair of kills from Hornsby to make the score 10-6 in favor of the Golden Eagles. TSU's mini-run prompted TTU to take its first timeout of the set to stem the flow of Tiger points. The strategy backfired on the Golden Eagles as TSU cut the lead to one when Tennessee Tech was called for a lane violation. The Tigers quickly tied the set at 16 apiece when freshman middle blocker Emilie Sandve Aase sent back a TTU attack for a point. The sides traded blows for the remainder of the set, but Hornsby finished the Golden Eagles off with a kill from Hornsby.
Hornsby finished the first set with seven kills and one error on 10 chances for a hitting percentage of .600.
The sides played to a 4-4 tie to begin the second frame with sophomore outside hitter Naomi Wells racking up a pair of kills. TSU took a three point lead when sophomore outside hitter Rachel Ambroch tallied consecutive service aces. With score 8-5 in favor of TSU, the Golden Eagles took their first timeout of the set. The stoppage proved to benefit the Tigers as the squad increased its advantage to five when Aase slammed home a kill. From there, TSU went on a 6-3 that featured a rare kill from Moss. Down eight late in the period, TTU used its second timeout and proceeded to go on a small 4-0 run. The momentum was short-lived however; as the Tigers went on to score seven of the frame's final nine points.
The Tigers allowed the Golden Eagles to hit a paltry .040 in the second period.
TSU opened the third set by inching out to a 5-3 lead as Hornsby broke her old career-high in kills by scoring her 14th and 15th on consecutive plays. TTU would then take a three-point advantage on back-to-back TSU errors. After a Tennessee Tech kill to make the score 10-7, TSU head coach Kathy Rouhlac had seen enough and called her first timeout of the match. The pep-talk did little to energize her team as TTU still held the advantage at 15-11 midway through the period. After four straight TSU points to tie the match, it was TTU's turn to call time. Hornsby and Wells each had kills later in the set to give the Tigers a two-point cushion. TSU added to its lead and eventually won the match on a kill from sophomore outside hitter Sherryce Butler.
Natalie Penrod led the Golden Eagles with nine kills and a .333 attack percentage. Freshman Cody Dodd added five kills on nine swings for an outstanding .444 attack percentage. Middle hitters Kelsey Gray and Madison Keyes each contributed four and three kills respectively.
Gray recorded nine blocks in the match, three solo, with six assists. Keyes knocked down down one solo block, and had a hand in two other blocks. Courtney Smith sprawled for 11 digs and Madison Comperry chipped in with seven.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
CHARLESTON, Ill. - -- Down two-sets to none, the Eastern Illinois volleyball squad clawed back to push Ohio Valley Conference favorite Morehead State to the limit, but the Panthers fell in a five-set heartbreaker (25-22, 25-13, 22-25, 22-25, 15-12) at home on Friday evening.
The tough loss drops EIU to 3-15 overall and 0-5 in league play, while the Eagles, who compete in the east division of the OVC, improved to 13-6 and 5-0
Freshman outside hitter Abby Saalfrank paced a trio of Panthers with double-digit kills as she nailed a personal high 17 kills and added 14 digs for her first career double-double.
Junior outside hitter Reynae Hutchinson added 15 kills and a team-best .283 attack, while senior middle Alison Berens chipped in 10 kills. Berens led all players in net defense with six block assists and she tied sophomore Kelsey Brooke with a pair of aces.
Setter Marah Bradbury dished out a career-high 54 assists and upped 10 MOR attacks to secure her third assist-dig duo-duo of her freshman campaign.
Junior Stephanie Arnold tallied four solo stuffs while Brooke led all Panthers with 17 digs in the back court. Freshman Stephanie Wallace added 13 digs of her own.
Morehead State was led by Ellie Roberson's 23 kills and .349 attack, while Laura McDermott and Aryn Bohannon each added 11 put-a-ways as well. Annie Gruenschlaeger, meanwhile, enjoyed a .474 attack clip with nine kills and zero errors, while she also led all playes with three aces. Libero Leslie Schellhaas finished with 26 digs to lead all players on the court.
Meeting for the 31st time during the Division I era, the two squads battled through 25 ties and eight lead changes as the visitors enjoyed had set point to open the first frame up 24-12, but that's when the Panthers went on a tear to make the defending league champions sweat it out as EIU erupted for 10 straight points, forcing consecutive Eagle timeouts. Eastern pulled to within 24-22 before the Eagles survived for the 25-22 win.
The second frame started tied with a 6-all tie, but a 6-0 run would help MOR pull ahead, eventually taking the set 25-13 to enjoy a 2-0 lead in the match.
Sets number three and four went to EIU as the each frame went nearly point-for-point before the Panthers used a 4-1 late-set run to extend the match with the 25-22 victory. The fourth frame was a carbon copy up to 18-all, but a kill by Bradbury and an Eagle miscue would give the Panthers the two-point cushion, which they would enjoy all the way to the 25-22 win yet again.
The deciding frame had the Eagles up 3-1, but a Berens put-down and another MOR error would even it at 3-all. However, the visitors would counter for a 10-7 lead, but not before the Panthers pulled to within 12-10. Yet the league leaders of MOR would take advantage of a late 3-2 to survive the scare for the 15-12 victory.
Team stats were pretty even except for aces and blocks, as the Eagles out-served EIU, 11-7, in aces, but the Panthers nearly doubled MOR in net defense via a 11.0-to-six block advantage. MOR just out-paced Eastern in kills (66-to-61), attack (.246-to-.235), assists (64-to-59), digs (71-to-68), and points (83.0-to-79.0).
UT MARTIN 3, MURRAY STATE 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - UT Martin defeated Murray State (25-20, 19-25, 25-23, 25-20) Friday night.
The Skyhawks were led by Lynsey Hazelwood with 12 kills while Kasey Elswick recorded a match-high 20 digs.
Murray State's Taylor Olden led all players with 13 kills. Katlyn Hudson paced the Racer defense with 17 digs.
Full recap coming soon.