WEDNESDAY’S SCORES
@Morehead State 3, Eastern Kentucky 0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-16)
@Eastern Illinois 3, SIUE 1 (25-17, 25-27, 25-23, 25-21)
MOREHEAD STATE 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Freshman outside hitter Courtney Smith and senior right side attacker Ellie Roberson combined for 27 kills and a .485 hitting efficiency to guide the Morehead State volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-16) victory over visiting Eastern Kentucky Wednesday night at Wetherby Gym.
Smith slammed down 13 winners and hit a career-best .545. Roberson paced the team with 14 spikes while hitting .385. The Eagles (23-6/15-0 Ohio Valley Conference) extended the nation's longest Division I winning streak to 21 matches and defeated EKU (9-18/5-10 OVC) for the 14th straight time. The Eagles also claimed their 11th straight OVC home win.
The MSU offense generated a .386 attack effort as it crushed 46 kills off 88 swings with just 12 errors. The Eagle defense denied seven EKU attempts. Smith led the charge at the net with four blocks, while sophomore middle blocker Laura McDermott matched her. Junior libero Leslie Schellhaas picked up a team-best 14 digs as the Eagles held a 50-26 edge in that stat column.
Junior outside hitter Aryn Bohannon added 12 digs, while senior setter Caitlin Clark posted her 11th double-double with 41 assists and 11 digs.
Ashley Edmond produced team-bests of 10 kills and .304 hitting to lead the Colonels. No other EKU player managed more than four kills.
The Eagles started efficient and finished with strong hitting. MSU hit .400 in the opening set with 18 kills. The hosts swatted down 15 winners in the third frame via a.481 percentage. MSU only saw the Colonels tie the match once in the second set, and MSU never trailed.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, SIUE 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Senior Emily Franklin drilled 17 kills to lead Eastern Illinois volleyball to a four set win over Ohio Valley Conference west division rival SIU Edwardsville (25-17, 25-27, 25-23, 25-21) on Wednesday evening, as the Panthers clinched a spot in the upcoming eight-team league tournament.
Eastern will make their first appearance in the end-of-season event, which decides who will represent the OVC in NCAA Regional play, since 2005 when the Panthers ironically hosted the three-day tourney.
The Panthers have also won eight of their last ten OVC contests to improve to 8-7 in league action and have solidified sixth place in the conference standings, while also improving their overall mark to 11-19.
Franklin earned a team-high 43 attacks to register a .233 clip as she set a season-high kill tally, while adding a pair of blocks and three digs. It marks her first double-digit kill mark since mid-September and her fourth of the season.
Junior Stephanie Arnold chipped in 10 kills via the middle attack and had just two miscues to sport a team-high .400 clip. She also finished with six block assists.
A trio of additional Panthers -- freshman Abby Saalfrank, junior Reynae Hutchinson and senior Alison Berens -- each collected nine kills, as Saalfrank set a new personal block total with seven roofs, while Berens added four stuffs of her own.
Marah Bradbury, the reigning OVC 'Setter of the Week', dished out 46 assists and upped 11 SIUE attacks to garner her sixth career assist-dig duo-duo performance in a Panther uniform.
In back court defense, four additional Panthers nabbed double-digit dig numbers, led by freshman libero Stephanie Wallace's 15 ups, with sophomore Kelsey Brooke tying Hutchinson with 13, and sophomore Dakota Springer adding 12.
Behind the service line, Berens and Wallace both fired off a pair of aces each.
Meeting for the seventh time, the match between the two instate league rivals featured 21 ties and five lead changes, as the Panthers pulled to within 3-4 in the all-time series history with the Cougars.
The Panthers jumped out to an early 7-1 lead to begin the match, eventually cruising to an 18-8 first set advantage en route to the 25-17 victory, leading the entire way.
But the visitors countered with their own early second frame run to eventually enjoy a 12-6 advantage. However, the home Panther squad would slowly claw back to make things interesting, tying the set at 17-all to force a Cougar timeout. Following another tie at 20-all, SIUE would pull ahead 24-21 but squander consecutive set-points as the Panthers tied it at 24-all and again at 25-all. Yet a Cougar kill and EIU miscue would allow SIUE to tie the match at a set a piece via the 27-25 win.
A very tight set three followed, which featured nine ties and four lead changes, as neither squad enjoyed more than a two-point lead through the halfway point of the set. Consecutive SIUE miscues would force the Cougars to burn a timeout as EIU lead 19-17, with the Panthers eventually serving for set-point up 24-19. However, the visiting squad once again managed to make the home crowd sweat a bit as consecutive points moved the Cougars to within 24-23 of EIU, but a Franklin put-down would give Eastern the 2-1 match advantage off the exciting 25-23 win.
In set four, both squads played classic sideout volleyball, with the frame going back-and-forth until EIU went on a 4-0 run to break out of a 15-all tie and lead 19-15. Following a SIUE break in the action, both squads continued sideout ball yet the home team didn't allow the Cougars to get any close than two points as the Panthers finished strong for the 25-21 deciding win.
SIUE had zero players earn double-digit kills, as Emma Anderson and Kristen Torre both finished with eight put-a-ways to pace the Cougar offense. Leslie Lindsey and Kelsey Augustine added seven and six kills, respectively, with Augustine leading the net defense with six blocks, while libero Chelsea Colclasure led all players on the court with 26 digs. Sammi Minton and Kaitlyn O'Reilly shared setting duties behind respective 21 and 16 helpers.
Team-wise, EIU led SIUE in every stat categories, including for kills (56-41), attack (.145-to-.066), assists (55-to-40), aces (six-to-three), digs (72-to-70), blocks (14.0-to-9.5), and points (76.0-to-53.5). Neither team hit well as each squad finished with 31 attack errors, while EIU also led SIUE in service miscues via an 11-to-7 advantage.