SATURDAY’S SCORES
Tennessee State 3, @SIUE 1 (25-27, 25-22, 25-20, 25-13)
Morehead State 3, @Austin Peay 0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-19)
@Southeast Missouri 3, Tennessee Tech 1 (25-15, 15-25, 25-15, 25-17)
Jacksonville State 3, @UT Martin 2 (20-25, 25-14, 25-14, 27-29, 15-7)
@Murray State 3, Eastern Kentucky 2 (23-25, 25-13, 25-15, 19-25, 16-14)
TENNESSEE STATE 3, SIUE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE completed the 2012 season Saturday with a four-set loss to Tennessee State at the Vadalabene Center.
The Cougars dropped a 25-27, 25-22, 25-20, 25-13 match to the visiting Tigers. SIUE ends its season with a 9-18 record and a 5-11 mark in the Ohio Valley Conference. Tennessee State completed its regular season with a 17-13 record and a 10-6 mark in league play.
SIUE Head Coach Leah Johnson lauded her three seniors who played in their final match for the Cougars. Setter Sammi Minton, outside hitter Brooke Smith, and outside hitter Brianne Graunke each played four seasons for the Cougars and were honored in a pregame ceremony.
Saturday's finale started on the positive for the Cougars by winning the first set 27-25. Tennessee State committed nine errors in the first set and struggled to put away the Cougars.
Kelsey Augustine led SIUE's offense with 11 kills. Freshman Leslie Lindsey added seven.
Both teams battled through long points and craft play. Tennessee State finished with 95 digs led by 28 from Naomi Wells. The Cougars finished the match with 85 digs, including 28 from Chelsea Colclasure and 19 by Smith.
TSU’s Rachel Ambroch and Sherryce Butler each recorded 16 kills to lead the Tigers.
Colclasure set the school record for digs per set at 5.42 breaking the mark set by Allison Buss during the 2004 season.
SIUE hit .120 as a team Saturday with 10 blocks. Augustine, who led the Cougars with nine, finished the season with 114 blocks (1.13 per set), the most by a Cougar since moving to the NCAA Division I level.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, AUSTIN PEAY 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Senior right side hitter Ellie Roberson clobbered 19 kills, including 12 in the third set, as the Morehead State volleyball team wrapped up an unbeaten Ohio Valley Conference schedule at 16-0 with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 25-19) sweep at Austin Peay Saturday.
Roberson committed only four mistakes en route to a team-best .417 attack efficiency to help the Eagles extend the nation's longest winning streak to 22 matches. Freshman outside hitter Courtney Smith chipped in with eight kills and a .318 hitting percentage. MSU concludes the regular season 24-6 overall and has now won 24 consecutive league road matches.
The 2012 Eagles became only the eighth team in OVC history to finish the conference season with an unblemished record.
The Eagles opened the match by hitting .400 in the first set as Smith hammered a trio of kills and helped MSU cruise on a 10-4 run to begin the action. The Eagles finished with 13 kills and just one error in the opening frame.
MSU cooled off a bit in the second, managing 12 winners, but hitting just .102 with seven attack miscues. Roberson took control in the third, however, slamming down a dozen of the Eagles' 17 kills. MSU hit .417 in the deciding set.
The Eagles totaled eight blocks, including four from senior middle Annie Gruenschlaeger and three via sophomore middle Laura McDermott. Junior defensive specialist Lindsey Roth landed three of MSU's six aces, and senior setter Caitlin Clark handed out 32 assists. Austin Peay won the dig battle, 54-49, but junior libero Leslie Schellhaas scooped a team-high 15 attempts.
Austin Peay's Nikki Doyle turned in a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs. Lauren Henderson hit a match-best .611 with 12 kills, and Liz Landon came up with a match-high 17 digs.
MSU finished with a .278 hitting total.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri volleyball team defeated Tennessee Tech 3-1 (25-15, 15-25, 25-15, 25-17) Saturday afternoon at Houck Field House. The Redhawks earned their 20th win of the season with the victory, their first 20 win campaign since 2007.
The Redhawks improved to 20-12 overall and 12-4 in the Ohio Valley Conference as the Golden Eagles finish their season 3-26 overall and 1-15 in the conference.
Seniors Brittney Kalinoski, Samantha Lowman and Karlee Lursen played their final match at Houck Field House.
Lursen led the Redhawks with a season-high 14 kills on the afternoon to go along with 10 digs.
The Redhawks opened up the contest with a 25-15 win in the opening frame. Southeast hit a season-high .494 in the set with 20 kills. Lursen recorded six of her 14 kills in the opening set.
Tennessee Tech turned the tables on Southeast in the second frame taking the set 25-15. The Golden Eagles hit .500 in the set with a team match-high 17 kills.
Southeast took the third set 25-15. The Redhawks hit .393 in the stanza, their second highest percentage of the season. Southeast held TTU to a -.036 percentage in the set with eight errors.
The Redhawks took the fourth set 25-17. Southeast added 16 kills in the frame. Sophomore Meredith Stranges highlighted the set with three services aces to help the Redhawks take the match 3-1.
Sophomore Kelsey Keeve tied a career-high with 13 kills, hitting .500 in the match. Taylor Masterson added 11 kills to round out Redhawk players with double digit kills.
Kalinoski and Emily Coon added nine kills apiece. Coon led the Redhawks with three blocks.
Berkely Idel led the Redhawks with 15 kills. Lowman also added to the defensive effort with eight digs.
Julie Shives dished out 46 assists on the afternoon. She also added four service aces.
Cody Dodd led the Golden Eagles with 11 kills.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, MURRAY STATE 2
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State volleyball team picked up a thrilling five-set win over Eastern Kentucky to officially close out its 2012 season on Saturday at Racer Arena.
Prior to the game, the four 2012 seniors were honored for their work and accomplishments. Seniors Molly Goodrich, Lia Havili, Lydia Orf and Wendi Zickfield were each honored for everything they have done for Racer volleyball over their respective careers.
The first set was a battle for momentum, with neither team ever gaining more than a three point lead in the frame. With the score tied at 22, Eastern Kentucky tallied two straight kills and an attack error but the Racers to take the opening set, 25-22.
The next two sets, however, belonged solely to the Racers. After trying the Colonels at 5-5, Murray State closed out the set on a 20-8 run to take the set, 25-13 and tie the match at one.
In the third set, the Racers again smothered EKU with a huge run, this time a 13-8 run that made the score 20-15. From that point on, the Racers earned kills from Zickfield and freshman Emily Schmahl, coupled with three errors by the Colonels, to take a 2-1 match lead by picking up the 25-15 set victory.
The Racers rebounded from a .213 hitting performance in set one, to hit .286 and .374, respectively, in the second and third sets. Meanwhile, the Colonels hit .351 in the first set and were held to .000 and .045 in the following two frames.
Just as easily as the momentum moved to the Racers after set one, it went back to EKU for the fourth set. The Colonels put up a .304 attack percentage in the frame, while holding the Racers to just .125. The tide turned in the set at 19-17, as Eastern went on a 6-2 run to close out the stanza that included three kills by Ashley Edmond.
In the fifth set, the two teams matched each other point for point. However, in the end, despite a playoff berth on the line for the Colonels, Murray State just wanted it more. With the set tied at 14, the Racers closed out the win with a kill from freshman Alyssa Lelm and an error by EKU.
Zickfield notched her fourth double-double of the season to lead the Racers with 17 kills and 13 digs. Schmahl and Lelm followed Zickfield with 15 and 13 kills, respectively, while junior Katlyn Hudson led the defense with 29 digs.
Alexis Plagens, Ashley Edmond and Kelsey Kuehner each had 17 kills to lead the Colonels. Edmond added 20 digs for the double-double.
With the win the Racers will end their 2012-13 campaign at 6-20 overall and 4-12 in the conference, while EKU’s season comes to an end at 9-19 and 5-11 in league action.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, UT MARTIN 2
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin volleyball team’s comeback attempt came up just short this afternoon, as the Skyhawks fell in five sets against Jacksonville State (25-20, 14-25, 14-25, 29-27, 7-15) at Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
Offensively, the Skyhawks were balanced this afternoon – as six players notched seven or more kills. Allie Whimpey led the team with 10 kills to go along with 13 digs, followed by Jackie Harter’s eight kills. Emily Keaton, Shelby Hoskins, Taylor Simons and Amanda Crask (38 assists, 13 digs) also delivered seven kills apiece for UT Martin.
Senior Kasey Elswick led the Skyhawks with 28 digs this afternoon, while Harter’s five blocks were a team-high for UT Martin.
The Gamecocks had three players reach double-digits in kills with Emily Rutherford leading the way with 16 kills. Jen Meyer added 14 kills while Nicole Megert chipped in 11. Rutherford added 16 digs in the match. Alina Agamy also recorded a double-double with 45 assists and 15 digs while Kelsey Anderson paced the JSU defense with 36 digs.
Behind a .265 team hitting percentage, the Skyhawks took the first set, which featured 11 ties and five lead changes. Jacksonville State led for most of the early going until Whimpey slammed down back-to-back kills to help UT Martin take a 15-13 lead. Four straight points by the Gamecocks then tilted the score to 17-15, but the Skyhawks responded with a 3-0 run of their own to go back on top by a point. After the score was tied at 18-all, UT Martin closed out the set on a 7-2 run.
Keaton and Whimpey each had three kills to lead the Skyhawk offense in the first set, while Elswick scooped up nine digs to lead the way defensively.
Although the Gamecocks led early in the second set (5-1), UT Martin stayed within four all the way out to 13-9. From that point forward, Jacksonville State scored seven straight points to take a 20-9 advantage until Crask ended the drought with a kill. The Skyhawks would claw back within eight points at 20-12 but that was as close as they would get the rest of the set.
In the second set, Harter and Whimpey had a team-high three kills apiece to pace UT Martin.
The Skyhawks got off to a hot start in the third set, accounting for six of the first nine points before Jacksonville State came back to take an 8-7 advantage. UT Martin would tie the score at 8-all and 11-all but the Gamecocks soon took a three-point lead until a Harter kill made the score 14-12. However, Jacksonville State went on a 7-0 run on its way to scoring 11 of the final 13 points of the set.
Elswick’s eight digs in the third set paced the Skyhawks.
Two straight kills by Simons capped off a 4-0 run that gave UT Martin a 9-6 advantage in the fourth set. A kill by Lynsey Hazelwood made the score 14-12 but Jacksonville State eventually took a 16-15 advantage. A pair of Simons kills and Whimpey service aces resulted in a 4-0 run for UT Martin as the Skyhawks took the lead back at 20-17. The Gamecocks scored three straight to even the score but UT Martin responded with three consecutive points to go back on top by a 23-20 margin. To cap off a set of runs, Jacksonville State then answered with three consecutive points but the Skyhawks fought off match point twice, as an assisted block by Hoskins and Whimpey capped off a 4-1 run to force a decisive fifth set.
Simons slammed down four kills on a perfect 1.000 attack percentage in the fourth set, while Crask (14 assists) and Elswick (eight digs) also led UT Martin.
The Skyhawks led early in the fifth set but after the score was tied 3-3, Jacksonville State scored seven unanswered points. Elswick and Whimpey would add kills later on in the set but UT Martin couldn’t climb back.