SATURDAY’S SCORES
Morehead State 3, @Belmont 1 (23-25, 25-14, 25-16, 25-18)
Tennessee State 3, @Eastern Kentucky 2 (25-13, 25-23, 22-25, 22-25, 15-6)
SIUE 3, @Jacksonville State 1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-22)
@Murray State 3, UT Martin 1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-11, 25-20)
@Austin Peay 3, Southeast Missouri 2 (19-25, 20-25, 25-23, 27-25, 15-7)
Eastern Illinois 3, Tennessee Tech 1 (25-23, 18-25, 25-19, 25-20)
MOREHEAD STAT E 3, BELMONT 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Senior middle blocker Annie Gruenschlaeger had a season-high 20 kills as the Morehead State volleyball team earned their 20th straight victory in a 3-1 road win over Belmont on Saturday.
The win kept the Eagles’ unbeaten streak in Ohio Valley Conference matches alive, as they sit at 14-0, and 22-6 overall. MSU currently holds the longest winning streak in Division I, and the victory was also its 23rd straight in OVC road matches.
Gruenschlaeger’s 20-kill mark was also a match-high, and senior right side hitter Ellie Roberson added 19 of her own and a .450 efficiency. Senior setter Caitlin Clark had 52 assists.
Defensively, senior libero Leslie Schellhaas had a match-high 23 digs, and sophomore setter and defensive specialist Colbey Cameron added 17.
The Eagles hit .283 as a team, while holding BU to .150, and had eight service aces.
Three Bruins finished with double-digit kills in the match, and junior setter Hannah Miranda had 41 assists
TENNESSEE STATE 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - – After falling behind 2-0, Eastern Kentucky University’s volleyball team battled back to tie the match but ultimately lost 3-2 to Tennessee State University on Saturday.
The Tigers (16-12, 9-5 OVC) won by scores of 25-13, 25-23, 22-25, 22-25 and 15-6.
Ashley Edmond contributed 16 kills and 13 digs for the Colonels (9-17, 5-9 OVC). Kelsey Kuehner added 12 kills and two blocks. Freshman Rachel Vick blocked six balls.
Four Tigers had 10 or more kills led by Naomi Wells with 20. She made only five errors in 43 attempts for a .349 attack percentage and added four blocks.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 2
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Trailing 2-0 in its Ohio Valley Conference West Division contest against Southeast Missouri, Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team channeled an impressive defensive performance to rally for a five-set victory (19-25, 20-25, 25-23, 27-25, 15-7), Saturday at the Dunn Center.
The match’s first three sets were each wire-to-wire decisions. Southeast Missouri (18-12, 10-4 OVC West) used a match-opening 11-4 scoring run and never looked back to win the opening frame 25-19. The Redhawks repeated the feat in the second set, breaking out to a 9-4 opening lead en route to the 25-20 win.
Austin Peay (16-14, 9-5 OVC West) returned the favor in the third set, opening with a 9-3 burst. The Redhawks would close to within a point late in the set, but the Lady Govs fended off the challenge and junior middle blocker Lauren Henderson ended the set with a kill for the 25-23 victory that brought APSU back to 2-1 in the match.
The fourth set saw both teams battle throughout with nine ties and five lead changes. Southeast Missouri broke out of the gate with a 7-3 scoring run. Austin Peay would battle back to tie the set, 12-12, on an Alex Sain kill, but could not maintain its momentum in the face of a Southeast Missouri timeout. The Redhawks build another lead, 15-13, but again the Lady Govs battled and used a 5-1 run to take a 18-16 lead.
That lead would hold until Southeast Missouri rattled off four straight points to get to match point for the first time, 24-23. But Henderson ended the run with a kill to tie the set and senior outside hitter Nikki Doyle and Sain added consecutive kills to get Austin Peay to set-point, 25-24. Southeast Missouri fended off the first set point, but Sain again put down a kill and Henderson followed with a service ace to win the set, 27-25.
Austin Peay carried that momentum into the fifth set, opening with consecutive kills by Doyle, sophomore Jada Stotts and Sain. Another 4-0 run pushed the APSU lead to 6-2 and the Lady Govs led 8-4 at the switch-over. Austin Peay immediately scored three straight points after the mini-break to lead 11-4 and never looked back.
Four Austin Peay hitters reached double-digit kills territory, but Sain had the most impressive night with a career-high 18 kills – 16 in the final three sets – while posting a .441 attack percentage. Doyle added 19 kills while Henderson and Stotts each chipped in 14 kills.
Austin Peay recorded 75 kills in the win and posted a .204 attack percentage. The defense also made a statement with 101 digs – Sain accounting for a team-best 25 – and eight blocks.
Emily Coon led Southeast Missouri with 21 kills and a .378 attack percentage. Colleen Yarber added 11 kills. The Redhawks were held to 56 kills after recording 30 kills in the opening two sets.
SIUE 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – The Jacksonville State volleyball team dropped their third straight match as SIU-Edwardsville 3-1 (23-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-22) handed the Gamecocks a loss Saturday afternoon on Senior Day.
With the loss the Gamecocks fall to 12-16 overall and 6-8 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Cougars improve to 9-16 overall and 5-9 in conference play.
The Gamecocks came out hot in the first set, hitting .270 while attacking the Cougars with a balanced offensive attack. Jen Meyer and Nicole Merget each recorded four kills on identical .375 hitting percentages in the set while Emily Rutherford added three kills.
The Cougars tightened up the defense in the second set, limiting JSU to a .056 hitting percentage while picking up the 25-19 victory to even the match at one game apiece. The two teams then found themselves tied 11 times in the third match. With the game tied at 20-20, SIUE used a two kills and a service ace to create enough space to pull out the 25-23 victory.
The Gamecocks found themselves down 22-18 in the fourth set before a 4-0 run fueled by two Cougar errors allowed the Gamecocks to tie the match up at 22 apiece. It would prove to be not be enough as a service error by Grace Anbouba set up back-to-back kills by Kelsey Augustine to clinch the match for SIUE at 25-22.
Merget led the Gamecocks with 17 kills. Setter Alina Agamy finished with 32 assists while defensively Kelsey Anderson led JSU with 26 digs. Abbey Heredia finished with a double-double with 10 assists and 12 digs for the Gamecocks.
Augustine finished with a match-high 14 kills on a .385 hitting percentage. Sammi Minton finished with 21 assists and 10 digs while Kaitlyn O'Reilly recorded 20 assists and 11 digs.
MURRAY STATE 3, UT MARTIN 1
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State volleyball team made a huge statement on Saturday night at Racer Arena by downing play-off contender UT Martin, 3-1. Despite being eliminated from the postseason chase, Murray State made sure the Skyhawks knew they were not a team to be taken lightly.
In the first set, both team traded points back and forth and eventually battled to 16 all. From that point, the Racers (5-18, 3-11 OVC) took a lead which they never relinquished and closed out the set with three straight points at 25-21.
The second set was almost a mirror image of the first. However, this time it would the Skyhawks (10-18, 6-8 OVC) that came out on top. The two teams knotted for the 13th time in the frame at 23 and thanks to an MSU error and a UT martin kill, the Skyhawks claimed the stanza, 25-23.
The third set proved to be the polar opposite of the first two, as the Racers used huge runs to pick up the 25-11 victory. Murray State opened the frame with a 9-2 run and followed it up with an 8-3 run in the middle of the set. After leading 23-11, the Racers got a kill from freshman Taylor Olden and a UT Martin error to give them a 25-11 set win and 2-1 match lead. The Racers hit an outstanding .471 as team in the frame, while holding the Skyhawks to -.062.
The fourth set was once again a back-and-forth battle, but the Racers would not be denied and claimed a 25-20 set victory, taking the match, 3-1, in the process. Murray State earned the last four points in the set thanks to three more UT Martin errors and a kill from freshman Emily Schmahl that sealed the win.
After the match, head coach David Schwepker talked about his team’s resolve in battling back from the second set loss.
Senior Wendi Zickfield turned in her third consecutive double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs, while Schmahl led all players with a match-high 17 kills. Senior Lydia Orf had a team high 19 digs, while freshman Alyssa Lelm and Kristen Besselsen had three blocks each.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Reynae Hutchinson earned her fourth consecutive kill-dig double-double as Eastern Illinois volleyball earned a four-set win (25-23, 19-25, 25-19, 25-20) at Ohio Valley Conference east division foe Tennessee Tech on Saturday afternoon.
Hutchinson nailed a player-high 20 kills and added 10 digs to nab her 25th career duo-duo performance, and ninth of her junior campaign, while hitting .333 in the contest.
Classmate Stephanie Arnold added 12 put-a-ways and tied both Hutchinson and senior Alison Berens with four blocks apiece. Freshman Abby Saalfrank finished with an additional 10 kills.
The Panthers have now won six of their last seven OVC contests to improve to an even 7-7 league mark and sit in sixth place in the conference standings as EIU continues a strong late-season push to be one of eight squads to advance to the league championship. Eastern also moves to 10-19 overall.
Newcomer Marah Bradbury dished out a high of 51 assists and drilled six kills with zero errors for a nice .545 clip.
Freshman libero Stephanie Wallace upped 17 Golden Eagle attacks to earn top Panther dig numbers, as sophomore Dakota Springer once again improved on her career dig numbers with 15 passes.
Team-wise, the Panthers led TTU (3-23/1-13) in kills (64-to-45), attacks (147-to-132), attack (.252-to-.205), assists (58-to-42), digs (63-to-49), and points (77.0-to-64.0). The Golden Eagles did win the serve and blocking games with respective advantages of five-to-four and 14-to-nine.
Kelsey Gray and Ellen Conti paced the TTU offense behind respective 11 and 10 kill totals, with Gray hitting .381 for the match and tying Elise Robertson the net defense behind six blocks each. Libero Courtney Smith finished with 18 digs, to lead all players on the court.
Meeting for the 37th time, the match featured 27 ties and 13 lead changes, as the Panthers now own a 23-14 lead over the Golden Eagles, while also enjoying a three-match win streak in the all-time series.