FRIDAY’S SCORES
Tennessee State 3, @Eastern Kentucky 1 (25-22, 25-18, 21-25, 25-16)
@SIUE 3, UT Martin 0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-10)
@Morehead State 3, Belmont 0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-22)
@Murray State 3, Tennessee Tech 0 (29-27, 25-15, 25-13)
Southeast Missouri 3, @Eastern Illinois 1 (19-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-21)
Jacksonville State 3, @Austin Peay 1 (30-32, 35-22, 25-20, 25-23)
TENNESSEE STATE 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 1
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky University’s volleyball team fell 3-1 to Tennessee State University in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.
The Tigers (6-7, 1-0 OVC) won by scores of 25-22, 25-18, 21-25 and 25-16.
Alexis Plagens led EKU (3-8, 0-1 OVC) with nine kills. Ashley Edmond had eight kills.
Naiomi Wells had a match-best 15 kills for TSU. Sherryce Butler finished with 11 kills. Britani Hathorn contributed 38 digs.
SIUE 3, UT MARTIN 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE progressively played stronger throughout Friday's Ohio Valley Conference volleyball opener and downed UT Martin 25-23, 25-20, 25-10.
The Cougars improved to 5-7 overall with the sweep at the Vadalabene Center. UT Martin dropped to 4-10 overall and 0-1 in the OVC. SIUE comes back tomorrow with a 2 p.m. match at home against Southeast Missouri.
After going up two sets to none, the momentum continued as SIUE won the first five points of the third set and ended the set with a 10-3 run.
Kelsey Augustine collected five of her match-high 11 kills in the third set. Emma Anderson turned in her career best in efficiency, hitting .476 with 10 kills and no errors.
The Cougars played confident and minimized their errors against the Skyhawks. SIUE finished with 40 kills, 12 errors, and a .259 team hitting percentage. UT Martin completed the match with 35 kills, 23 errors, and a .103 hitting percentage.
SIUE's defense also controlled the net. Brianne Graunke led the Cougars with four blocks followed by three from Augustine. The Cougars also picked up a strong defensive effort from senior Brooke Smith who led all players with 18 digs.
Lynsey Hazelwood and Jackie Harter led the Skyhawks with seven kills each while Kasey Elswick packed the defense with 15 digs.
MROEHEAD STATE 3, BELMONT 0
MORHEAD, Ky. - Senior Ellie Roberson led Morehead State with 18 kills and a .361 attack percentage as the Eagle volleyball team opened Ohio Valley Conference play with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-22) victory over Belmont on Friday evening at Wetherby Gym.
The triumph improved the Eagles to 9-6 overall, while the Bruins fell to 4-11 and dropped their inaugural OVC match. MSU has now won seven consecutive matches this season and has claimed 37 of its last 39 league matchups dating back to 2010.
Roberson, who shifted to the right side on offense, converted her team-high in kills on 36 swings with just five errors. Junior outside hitter Aryn Bohannon smacked down 12 kills with just two errors for a .357 hitting efficiency to go along with a career-high six total blocks. She had three solo and three assisted rejections. Sophomore Laura McDermott totaled seven kills and four blocks and hit .500.
Of the 75 total points earned in the match, the Eagles claimed 63. MSU also won the stats battle in kills (51-26), assists (42-25), digs (45-37) and blocks (7-5). Senior setter Caitlin Clark had a double-double with 36 assists and a team-high 15 digs. Junior libero Leslie Schellhaas tied Clark for the team lead in digs with 15 ups.
Belmont got nine kills and a .259 attack total from Jen Meyer. Jamie Lundstrom, the reigning OVC Defensive Player of the Week, also tallied 15 digs.
The Eagles maintained control throughout a majority of the night. The match featured just four lead changes and 11 ties. The Eagles only tailed twice in the opening set and never fell behind in the third frame. MSU's largest scoring run of the night came after trailing 7-6 in the second set. The Eagles rattled off 14 of the next 16 winners.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois volleyball opened Ohio Valley Conference play on Friday with a tough four-set loss to visiting Southeast Missouri (19-25, 25-16, 25-21, 25-21), in front of a large and raucous crowd of 905 in Lantz Arena.
Freshman right-side attacker/setter Abby Saalfrank led the EIU attack behind her third triple-double of the season as she nabbed 16 kills, 25 assists and 16 digs, while hitting .500 for the match.
Classmate Kayla Nesbitt nabbed her first career double-digit kill performance with the addition of 11 put-a-ways and a nice .429 attack with just two miscues. Fellow freshman Chelse Lee also saw significant play, as she nailed eight kills of her own.
Seniors Alison Berens and Emily Franklin chipped in nine kills apiece, as Franklin upped 12 SEMO attacks and Berens led all Eastern players with the addition of four aces and three blocks.
Freshman setter Marah Bradbury nabbed her second career assist/dig duo-duo behind 22 assists and 10 digs. Junior Reynae Hutchinson added 11 digs and rejected a pair of SEMO attacks at the net.
In other defense numbers, sophomore libero Kelsey Brooke set a new career mark with 23 digs from the back row.
The Panthers actually led SEMO in many stat categories, including kills (61-to-53), assists (59-to-49), digs (84-to-80), points (72.0-to-66.0), and a huge lead in aces (seven-to-two). However, seven service errors also burned EIU, while a tough blocking game by the Redhawks helped them earn the 11-to-four roof advantage, while also out-hitting Eastern, .246 to .197 overall.
Southeast Missouri (9-6/1-0 OVC) was led by senior Brittney Kalinoski's 18 kills and 24 digs double-double, while both freshman Taylor Masterson and junior Colleen Yarber added 13 kills, with Masterson adding her own duo-duo with 16 digs. Defensively, junior libero Berkley Idel led with 23 digs and junior Emily Coon finished with six blocks, including a pair of solo stops.
Playing for the 41st time during the Division I era, SEMO now enjoys a 27-14 lead in the all-time series.
The first match started slow for both squads as neither squad could find a rhythm, but after 13 ties and six lead changes, the Panthers were able to take advantage of an 8-3 run to pick-up the tough 25-19 win in front of the loud crowd. EIU hit .325 in that set as compared to just .075 for SEMO.
The second set was all SEMO as the visitors jumped out for the quick lead en route to the 25-16 victory.
The third and fourth frames featured 12 ties and five lead changes, as the Redhawks hit .286 to just .070 for the Panthers to enjoy the 2-1 match lead via the 25-21 third set win, while the final set had EIU holding close with a 20-all tie, but two kills and a couple of miscues helped SEMO escape the hostile crowd with the crucial league opening win, 25-21
MURRAY STATE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State volleyball swept Tennessee Tech in its home and OVC opener, 29-27, 25-15, 25-13, on Friday night at Racer Arena.
The first set was a battle for the match momentum, as Tennessee Tech (2-11, 0-1 OVC) matched almost every early run by the Racers. After trailing, 20-14 late in the set, the Golden Eagles pushed back and cut the lead to just one point at 20-19. From that point, the two team traded points back-and-forth with Tennessee Tech finally getting to set point at 25-24. However, Murray State (3-7, 1-0 OVC) continued to battle and, thanks to kills from three different Racers, took the opening frame, 29-27.
While the first set may have been back-and-forth, the final two sets were all Murray State. The Racers opened the second set on a huge 12-1 run, that was powered by four aces from junior Katlyn Hudson (Columbus, Ind.). Her four aces were a new career-high, having previously had two in six different matches. Murray State closed the set out on a 6-3 run, to take it, 25-15.
In the third set, it was more of the same as the Racers built an early lead and used it propel to them throughout. Leading by as many as nine at one point in the frame, the Racers limited the Golden Eagles to just three of the final 11 points of the match and secured the sweep with a 25-13 victory.
For the sixth straight match, freshman Taylor Olden (Lincoln, Ill.) led MSU in kills, with 16, while fellow freshman Emily Schmahl (Edgewood, Ky.) followed closely behind with 15 of her own.
Hudson led the Racer defensive unit on the night with a season-high 21 digs, while Alyssa Lelm (Mackinaw, Ill.) finished with a team-high four blocks.
As a team, Murray State finished with 10 aces, marking the first time it has posted a double-digit performance in that category since Oct. 23, 2010, at home against Austin Peay, when it also notched 10.
Sophomore Ellen Conti (Grove City, Ohio) led the Golden Eagles with 10 kills, while senior Kelsey Gray (Newark, Ohio) followed with nine and seven blocks.
JACKONVILLE STATE 3, AUSTIN PEAY 1
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - The Jacksonville State volleyball team opened up Ohio Valley Conference play on Frdiay night with a 3-1 (30-32, 25-22, 25-20, 25-23) over Austin Peay.
A power outage at the Dunn Center forced the match's 7 p.m. start time to be postponed to 9:30 p.m. as the two teams moved across campus to the Memorial Health Building.
With the win, JSU improves to 7-8 overall and 1-0 in OVC play while ASPU falls to 6-10 overall and 0-1 in OVC play. The Gamecocks are now 9-1 all-time in OVC season openers.
The Gamecocks dropped the first set 32-30 despite having five match points. JSU bounced back with by winning the next two sets 25-22 and 25-20.
Trailing 20-15 in the fourth set, JSU fought back to tie the game at 23-23. Freshman Emily Rutherford and Jen Meyer then posted back-to-back kills to give the Gamecocks the victory.
Emily Rutherford recorded her first double-double of the season with 19 kills and 23 digs. Hivya Leite added 14 kills while Jen Meyer recorded 11 kills. Defensively, Kelsey Anderson recorded 27 digs and Kelly Cole added 15 digs. Alina Agamy also recorded a double-double with 48 assists and 13 digs.
The Lady Govs had five players with double-digits in digs. Lauren Henderson led the Lady Govs with 17 kills while Nikki Doyle added 15 kills and Jada Stott had 10 kills.