TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Jacksonville State 3, Tennessee Tech 0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-19)
@Eastern Illinois 3, SIUE 1 (25-18, 27-25, 23-25, 25-20)
@UT Martin 3, Southeast Missouri 2 (25-21, 25-27, 26-24, 22-25, 15-13)
@Austin Peay 3, Murray State 2 (22-25, 25-13, 22-25, 25-17, 15-13)
@Tennessee State 3, Belmont 2 (25-22, 25-17, 20-25, 22-25, 15-13)
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Sophomore Emily Rutherford led the Jacksonville State volleyball team with 15 kills in the Gamecocks' 3-0 sweep (25-20, 25-18, 25-19) over Tennessee Tech on Tuesday night in Ohio Valley Conference action at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
With the sweep, the Gamecocks improve to 10-8 overall and 3-0 in OVC play while the Golden Eagles drop to 4-9 overall and 0-3 in conference play.
Senior Abbey Heredia finished with a double-double of 23 assists and 10 digs to lead a JSU offensive unit that hit .235 as a team. Rutherford finished with a .343 hitting percentage on the night to go with nine digs.
Defensively, sophomore Samantha Bohne added nine kills as the Gamecocks held the Golden Eagles to a .175 attack percentage.
The Golden Eagles were led by Natalie Penrod with 10 kills. Sharon Anderson led the way with 20 assists while Courtney Smith finished with 16 digs.
Rutherford finished with six kills in the first set while helping JSU capture the 25-20 first set victory. With the set tied 14-14, two errors by the Golden Eagles and a service ace by Bohne helped the Gamecocks build a 17-14 lead. Leading 19-16, Rutherford rolled off four kills during a 4-1 run to help JSU run away with the 25-20 victory.
In the second set, the Gamecocks held the Golden Eagles to a .167 hitting percentage while racing out to a 16-10 lead. TTU finished with eight total errors in the set to propel JSU to the 25-18 victory.
Rutherford again led the way for JSU in the third and final set with six kills. The Gamecocks posted a .286 attack percentage while holding the Golden Eagles to a .108 attack percentage to complete the sweep with the 25-19 victory.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, SIUE 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A trio of Eastern Illinois volleyball players -- senior Reynae Hutchinson and sophomores Chelsea Lee and Abby Saalfrank -- all drilled 16 kills to help lead the Panthers past Ohio Valley Conference rival SIU Edwardsville (25-18, 27-25, 23-25, 25-20) in EIU's home opener on Tuesday (Oct. 1) evening.
The four-set win moved the Panthers to an even 8-8 overall and 2-1 in early league play, while the visiting Cougars dropped to 5-11/ 1-2. The EIU win also evened the all-time series between the two instate foes to four-all as the Panthers have now won two straight over SIUE.
Hutchinson also registered a team-high 16 digs to increase her career double-double mark to 31 all-time, as sophomore libero Stephanie Wallace also upped 16 Cougar attacks defensively.
Saalfrank notched the top EIU attack behind a .448 clip with just three errors, while classmate Marah Bradbury dished out 54 assists and hit .300 with three put-downs off no errors and tied four additional Panthers with one service ace.
In net defense, senior Stephanie Arnold stuffed four attacks to lead all players while chipping in eight kills from the middle attack, while junior defensive and serving specialist Kelsey Brooke added 11 digs as well.
Team-wise, the Panthers held the visitors to a .165 attack while enjoying a .256 clip. EIU also held the advantage over SIUE in kills (65-to-55), assists (62-to-53), aces (five-to-two), digs (66-to-65), and more than doubled the block (8.0-to-3.0). EIU did commit six service errors while the Cougars had zero on the night.
SIUE's Cori Harris led all players on the court with 17 kills behind a .378 attack, while Hilary Trevino added 11 kills of her own and libero Chelsea Colclasure finished with 16 digs.
The match, which featured 31 ties and 14 lead changes, saw the Panthers jump out to an early 8-4 first set lead thanks to consecutive SIUE errors and an ace from junior Dakota Springer, which would force an SIUE timeout. EIU maintained the lead as a Hutchinson kill would require the Cougars to burn their final TO down, 18-12. Eastern would cruise for the 25-18 win thanks to a final put-down from junior Kelsey Roggemann.
The second frame started tight before the visitors responded to lead 15-10 off an EIU miscue. After a Panther timeout, Eastern would eventually claw back to tie the set at 18-all off a miscue on the SIUE side of the net. The Cougars would change the momentum to soon lead 23-21, requiring EIU coach Kate Price to use her final timeout. The Panthers responded for two straight points thanks to kills from Saalfrank and Lee to knot the score at 23-all. But SIUE would actually have set point at 24-23, before additional put-downs from Saalfrank and Lee would give EIU their first set-point up 25-24. Following an Eastern service error, and an SIUE hitting mistake, Hutchinson would deliver the final kill to help the Panthers earn the nice come-from-behind 27-25 win to lead the match, 2-0.
The third set saw both squads playing classic sideout volleyball, with neither team leading by more than two points. Tied at 19-all, the visitors would go on a 4-1 push to lead 23-20, but EIU would counter to pull to within 23-22, before SIUE was able to scratch past Eastern for the 25-23 win and extend the match, yet the Panthers still led, 2-1.
Playing to a 10-all tie, the Panthers would eventually start pulling away in the deciding fourth frame, as EIU suddenly enjoyed a 19-13 advantage over their fellow OVC West Division foe.The Panthers would ride out the frame for the 25-20 victory and 3-1 match win.
UT MARTIN 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 2
MARTIN, Tenn. - UT Martin defeated visiting Southeast Missouri in five sets (25-21, 25-27, 26-24, 22-25, 15-13) on Tuesday night. With the win the Skyhawks improved to 8-11 overall and 2-1 in OVC play while the Redhawks fell to 8-9 overall and 1-2 in league action.
The Skyhawks had five players reach double-digits in kills with Madison Wessling leading the way with 17. Amanda crask earned her second triple double of the season as she registered 12 kills, 62 assists and 16 digs. Emily Keaton recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs while Chelsea Bowles tallied a match-high 33 digs on the night.
The Redhawks were led by Tayler Masterson with a career-best 16 kills. She committed just five errors for a .393 hitting percentage. Berkley Idel paced the Soutehast Missouri defense with 25 kills. Collen Yarber tallied a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, MURRAY STATE 2
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -
After a season-opening month-long road trip, Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team opened the home portion of its schedule with a gutsy five-set Ohio Valley Conference victory (22-25, 25-12, 22-25, 25-17, 15-13) against rival Murray State, Tuesday night, at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (5-13, 2-1 OVC) showed off a balanced offensive attack in its home debut, with four players recording 15-plus kills. Yet it was inconsistency within the match that kept the Lady Govs from pressing what turned into a sizable 77-58 advantage in kills.
Murray State (11-6, 1-2 OVC) controlled the flow of play in the opening set, breaking out to a 9-5 lead after a kill by Sam Bedard. Austin Peay would close within point, 11-10, after a Calyn Hull kill, but would get no closer. The Racers pushed out to five-point 18-13 lead and were not threatened the set’s remainder, winning 25-22.
The Lady Govs turned the table in the second set, marching out to the 9-5 lead. However, they did not allow the Racers to close the gap, APSU using a 7-0 run to build a 21-7 lead later in the set en route to the 25-12 lead. Austin Peay committed just one error in the second frame and posted a .414 attack percentage while forcing Murray State to commit 11 attack errors and post a negative-.050 attack percentage.
The third set was the most competitive of the match with six ties and three lead changes. Austin Peay led 3-1 only to see Murray State rally back to gain a 13-9 advantage. The Lady Govs battled back and briefly regained the lead at 17-16 after a Hull kill, but could not press its advantage. The Racers scored three-straight points to retake the lead and held off APSU for the 25-22 win.
Austin Peay again leveled the match with a dominating fourth set win. The Lady Govs opened up a 3-1 lead and pushed its advantage to 14-6 to force a second Murray State timeout. The timeout did not break APSU’s momentum as they pushed the lead to 22-13 thanks to a 4-0 run on Lauren Henderson’s serve. The Lady Govs did not look back, finishing the set with a Henderson block to win 25-17.
The Lady Govs looked poised to run away and hide in the fifth set, holding an 8-3 lead at the changeover. But Murray State reeled the score back in and tied the set 13-13 thanks to a 5-0 run that forced an Austin Peay timeout. Liz Landon halted the Murray State run with a kill and ended the match with another kill for the 15-13 win.
Jada Stotts and Hull each had 16 kills to lead Austin Peay. Landon and Sammie Ebright each had 15 kills – a career best for both players. Austin Peay finished with 77 kills and a .341 attack percentage – both season bests.
Scott Ingram led Murray State with 18 kills. Alyssa Lelm added 17 kills and Taylor Olden chipped in 14 kills. Murray State finished with 58 kills but was held to a .198 attack percentage.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, BELMONT 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - After starting OVC play 0-2 over the weekend the Tigers rallied with a vengeance Tuesday to win a five set match over pre-season OVC favorite Belmont.
The fifth and decisive set started with Belmont taking the early 5-2 lead. Tennessee State would claw back to tie the set at eight with a Sherryce Butler kill. The Bruins used a 4-0 run to regain the lead 12-8 Coach Kathy Roulhac would call a timeout to rally the Tigers. The move worked with TSU using a 3-0 run to pull within one point, 12-11.
With Belmont leading 13-11 the Tigers used a furious run to take control of the match. Back –to-back Butler kills knotted the score at 13. A Belmont hitting error gave the Tigers a chance to win the set with All-OVC setter serving. The senior wouldn’t think twice about the opportunity serving an ace that split the Belmont defenders for the ace, giving Tennessee State the 15-13 set win to take the match 3-2.
Sherryce Butler posted a career high 23 kills on the evening while posting a .370 hitting percentage to lead the Tigers. The junior also led the team in blocks picking up two solo blocks and six blocks total.
Senior Erkia Moss recorded a season high in assists picking up 54 helpers on the night.
The Tigers were paced defensively by junior Ileanushka Maldanado who led the team in digs with 22. Taylor Patterson (12), Katie Burnett (11) and Naomi Wells (10) also posted double digit kills in the win. Wells also added 10 kills to post her fifth double-double of the season.
As a team Tennessee State set season high marks in kills, total attacks and assists.
The Tigers came out of the gate firing to begin the match taking the early 11-7 lead. The Briuns would trim the lead down to 14-11 but the Tigers would extend their lead again with the help of a 3-0 making the score 18-13 capped off by an monstrous block from Sherryce Butler and Taylor Swayzer.
Tennessee State and Belmont would trade points with the Tigers closing out the set with a Butler kill winning the opening stanza 25-22. Butler led the Tigers in the set racking up five kills and posting a .571 hitting percentage.
TSU would carry their momentum into the second set opening with a 4-1 lead with the help of a 4-0 run after Belmont took the first point. With TSU leading 10-7 the Tigers used a 6-1 run to extend their lead out to 17-9 capped off by a Swayzer kill. The run was highlighted by two Arijana Anderson kills with Swayzer adding a kill and a block during the span. Tennessee State would cruise to the 25-17 set win.
The set win allowed the Tigers to take the 2-0 set lead into the locker room.
After the break Belmont answered the Tigers momentum with each team trading slim leads. Neither team would lead by more than two points until a 4-0 run gave the Bruins a 13-10 lead. TSU would answer with a 5-0 run to regain the lead at 15-13.
Both teams would again trade the leads with neither team leading by more than two points until the Bruins strung together a 5-0 run to close out the set 25-20 cutting the TSU lead to 2-1.
TSU took the early 6-1 set lead to begin the fourth set. Belmont would claw their way back into the set using a 9-4 run to even the set at 10. The Bruins would continue the run taking the 17-14 lead. Tennessee State answered back tying the set at 18 on a Belmont error. The Bruins would close out the set 25-22 to win the fourth set to tie the match 2-2.
Jen Myer led Belmont hitting .500 while recording a double-double with 11 kills and 13 digs. Gable registered a team-high 14 kills. Senior Jamie Lundstrom (La Grange, Ill.) recorded 22 digs, while senior Hannah Miranda (Covington, La.) dished out 52 assists.