FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 3, Eastern Illinois 2 (25-19, 23-25, 21-25, 27-25, 15-11)
Belmont 3, @Jacksonville State 0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-22)
Tennessee State 3, @Tennessee Tech 0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-15)
SIUE 3, @Eastern Kentucky 2 (22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 18-25, 15-13)
@Austin Peay 3, Southeast Missouri 1 (25-23, 26-24, 18-25, 25-20)
@Murray State 3, UT Martin 1 (25-20, 16-25, 25-17, 25-21)
BELMONT 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Sophomore Emily Rutherford posted her eighth double-double of the season with 11 kills and 14 digs but the Bruins of Belmont still managed to pull off the sweep (26-24, 25-16, 25-22) over the Jacksonville State volleyball team on Friday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum in Ohio Valley Conference action.
With the loss, the Gamecocks fall to 10-10 overall and 3-2 in OVC play. The Bruins improve to 2-3 in conference play and 9-12 overall after holding the Gamecocks to a .111 attack percentage on the night while offensively posting a .212 attack percentage.
Senior Abbey Heredia finished with 26 assists while senior Kelly Cole led the Gamecocks defensive effort with 19 digs.
The Bruins were led by Allison McCoy with 12 kills on a .458 attack percentage. Setter Hannah Miranda added a double-double of 37 assists and 10 digs while Jen Myer added eight kills and 24 digs.
Trailing 19-14 in the first set, the Gamecocks used kills from Rutherford and junior Alina Agamy to go with three Bruin errors to cut the deficit to 22-19. Following an attack error by the Gamecocks, freshman Kacy Clinkenbeard picked up two of her five kills in the set to pull JSU within 23-22.
A kill by Myer gave the Bruins a 24-22 lead and a chance to clinch before back-to-back errors tied the match up at 24-24. From there, the Bruins regained composure and used kills from Gabe Scarlett and an attack error by the Gamecocks to pull off the 26-24 opening set victory.
In the second set, the Bruins posted a .300 attack percentage while holding the Gamecocks to a .065 attack percentage despite five kills from Rurtherford. Belmont was led by McCoy with four kills while Gable and Jessica Vestal both added three kills apiece to help the Bruins race away with the 25-16 victory.
With the third set tied 14-14, the Bruins went on a 4-0 run behind kills from Jocelyn Youngdahl, Vestal, and Alex Martin to take an 18-14 lead. Following back-to-back kills by Rutherford that cut the JSU deficit to 18-16, the Bruins called a timeout and answered with kills from Miranda and McCoy to extend the lead 20-16. From there, the Bruins managed to pull away for the 25-22 victory to clinch the sweep over the Gamecocks.
SIUE 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky fell to the Cougars of SIU Edwardsville 3-2 Friday at McBrayer Arena.
SIUE won by scores of 22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 18-25 and 15-13.
The opening set went back-and-forth as EKU and SIUE were tied 13 times. After seven lead changes, the Colonels took the final three points to win the first set, 25-22. Freshman #Johanna Boyer# landed two straight kills to give the Colonels a 23-22 lead. The Cougars were charged with two consecutive attack errors off the serves of EKU senior #Marissa Tashenberg#, giving the Colonels the set.
EKU built a four point lead at 14-10 in the second set, before the Cougars battled back. SIU Edwardsville took advantage of a timeout, putting together a 9-1 run to take a 19-15 lead. Eastern pulled within one, at 23-22 before the Cougars closed out the set with a kill from senior Cori Harris.
In the third, SIUE tallied nine straight points to take the set from the Colonels. Trailing 22-17, the Cougars were able to force four EKU attack errors, along with four kills and a service ace from senior Kelsey Augustine to win the set.
EKU forced the decisive fifth set, after winning the fourth, 25-18. SIUE held an early 2-1 lead, but the Colonels controlled the remainder of the set.
SIUE gained a 3-2 lead in the final set and never looked back. The Colonels kept it close, but were unable to take the edge. The Cougars sealed the victory with three straight attack errors by the Colonels.
The Colonels were led by senior #Ashley Edmond# and sophomore #Rachel Vick#. Edmond posted 17 kills and 14 digs, while Vick contributed 10 kills and 12 points.
Harris tallied 20 kills and 10 digs for SIU Edwardsville. Chelsea Colclasure had a match-best 29 digs. Kelsey Augustine led all players with five blocks.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Led by a season-high 18 kills from senior outside hitter Aryn Bohannon and five blocks in the fifth set, the Morehead State volleyball team edged visiting Eastern Illinois 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-21, 25-27, 15-11) Friday night at Wetherby Gym.
MSU (14-5, 5-0 Ohio Valley Conference) claimed its 27th consecutive league regular season victory and its 13th straight OVC regular season home win but not without a comeback by the Panthers (9-9, 3-2 OVC).
The Eagles led 24-16 in the fourth set and were serving for the match, but the visitors rattled off nine straight points with Kelsey Brooke serving. EIU grabbed a 25-24 lead and eventually sent the match to the fifth set. EIU ended the frame on an 11-1 run.
The Eagles earned 14 points in the final set though, including seven kills, two aces and five blocks. MSU sealed the match via a blocking error by EIU.
Junior right-side hitter Alex Fitzmorris added 17 kills with a team-best .263 attack efficiency. Sophomore outside hitter Courtney Smith contributed 10 kills, 10 digs and seven total blocks. Junior middle blocker Laura McDermott and sophomore middle blocker Hannah Sigala tallied five stops as the Eagles totaled double digit rejections for the fourth time in the last six matches.
Junior setter Colbey Cameron handed out a match-best 52 assists, while senior libero Leslie Schellhaas came up with 20 digs.
Eastern Illinois got a team-high 25 digs from libero Stephanie Wallace, and the Panthers out-dug MSU 67-62. Reynae Hutchinson notched 19 kills, while Stephanie Arnold landed 15 winners.
The match featured 25 ties. MSU finished with a .194 attack percentage, while EIU hit .174 on the night. The Eagles had seven aces, including three by Smith.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Early runs by Tennessee State volleyball pushed the Tigers past Tennessee Tech in straight sets.
Paced by junior outside hitter Naomi Wells the Tigers posted their highest hitting percentage (.237) since its Sept. 17 win over Alabama A&M. Wells finished the match with a team high 13 kills in the win to go along with a blistering .346 kill percentage. Junior Sherryce Butler provided TSU with a dynamic one-two punch with the Lexington, Ky. native putting 10 kills on the board.
Tennessee State’s offense also used their service game to gain an advantage on the Golden Eagles, racking up eight aces on the evening. Senior Erika Moss, junior Katie Burnett and freshman Jamie Cooper each recorded two aces individually. Moss also dished out 30 assists to lead the Tigers in the category.
Defensively Tennessee State (5-10, 2-3) turned in their best performance of the season holding Tennessee Tech (5-10, 1-4) to just a a .048 hitting percentage, including a -.029 mark in the third set. The TTU hitting percentage was the lowest TSU has held any opponent this season. Junior Taylor Swayzer and freshman Shaunita Carr paced the defensive effort picking up three block assists a piece.
In the first set TSU raced out to a 22-7 lead taking control of the set. With the Tigers leading 9-6 Kathy Roulhac’s club used 13-1 spurt to extend the advantage out to a commanding 15 points. With Wells’ play igniting the Tigers picking up four kills in the stretch. During the run TSU sent two players back to serve, Jamie Cooper and Erika Moss, and each collected an ace.
The Golden Eagles wouldn’t back down as the used a 8-1 break to cut the TSU back down to eight at, 23-15. Two late errors by Tennessee Tech gave the Tigers the points they needed to withstand the rally and win the opening frame, 25-16.
The two OVC conference rivals would battle back-and-forth in the early goings of the second. With bloth teams locked in a 6-6 tie, Tennessee State used a 4-0 run to gain distance. Sherryce Butler paced the run with three kills of her own to put TSU up, 10-6.
Tennessee Tech would close back within two points, 11-9, but that would be the closest they got in the second set. Once again TSU would use an 11-2 set-changing run to grab a commanding 22-11 lead. The Golden Eagles would return the run late but would only get within seven at 24-17. A Butler kill would close the set to head to the locker room up 2-0 in sets after a 25-17 second stanza win.
Out of the break, Tennessee State took control of the third frame with a 15-4 start. Wells led the early charge with three kills in the span. TSU continued to dictate the pace throughout early parts of the third. TTU battled back late cutting the Tigers lead down to eight at 23-15.
Tennessee State answered the late Golden Eagle run with two straight late points to close out the frame and the match, 25-15 and 3-0 respectively.
Tennessee Tech was led by Natalie Penrod with 10 kills.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - With its starting setter sidelined, Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team won a gritty Ohio Valley Conference contest in four sets (25-23, 26-24, 18-25, 25-20) against Southeast Missouri, Friday night, at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (7-14, 4-1 OVC) entered the match with junior setter Cami Fields ruled out due to illness. The Lady Govs turned to sophomore setter Aubrey Marsellis, who held the fort admirably in her first career start. She recorded 49 assists on 63 APSU kills and had four kills of her own while posting team bests in blocks (five) and digs (16).
The match’s first two sets were wire-to-wire battles with neither team enjoying a sizeable lead. The opening frame saw the teams fight through 10 ties and five lead changes. Southeast Missouri fought back from a 20-17 deficit to take 23-22 lead. Freshman Sammie Ebright turned the score around, scoring a kill to get service back and then posting a service ace to give APSU a 24-23 lead. Junior Jada Stotts closed the set with a kill for the 25-23 win.
Southeast Missouri (9-10, 2-3 OVC) jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set, but Austin Peay scored five straight points with senior Lauren Henderson serving to take a brief 6-5 lead. The Lady Govs would build a 21-17 lead late in the set only to watch the Redhawks close that gap with a 4-0 run to tie the set 21-21. Junior Liz Landon stopped the run and the two teams traded the next six points. Henderson provided a kill to get set point and Stotts close the set with another kill for the 26-24 victory.
The Redhawks nearly won the third set in wire-to-wire fashion, but the Lady Govs put forth an impressive effort to keep the runaway from occurring. Southeast Missouri opened with four straight points and built a 10-2 lead. Austin Peay would stop the run thanks to a Stotts kill and cut the lead to 10-6 with a 4-0 run. The Lady Govs would close the gap completely thanks to an 8-4 burst, with Henderson providing back-to-back service aces to tie the set 17-17. However, the Redhawks closed the frame with an 8-1 run to win 25-18.
Austin Peay turned the tables in the fourth set, winning nearly wire-to-wire. Southeast Missouri led 2-1 but Stotts posted three straight kills to give APSU a 4-2 lead they would not relinquish. The Lady Govs fended off a 5-0 Redhawks run en route to a 25-20 match-clinching victory.
Stotts showed signs of her old form, leading Austin Peay with 17 kills and adding 11 digs. Henderson chipped in 14 kills, three service aces and three blocks. Ebright had 12 kills and 13 digs.
Austin Peay recorded 63 kills offensively but at just a .199 attack percentage. The Lady Govs made up for the poor hitting night with seven service aces and eight blocks.
Colleen Yarber led Southeast Missouri with 14 kills while Emily Coon added 10 kills. Southeast Missouri finished with 47 kills but posted a .164 attack percentage.
MURRAY STATE 3, UT MARTIN 1
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State defeated UT Martin in four sets (25-20, 16-25, 25-17, 25-21) on Friday night. With the win the Racers improve to 12-7 overall and 2-3 in the OVC while the Skyhawks fall to 8-13 overall and 2-3 in league play.
Alyssa Lelm and Emily Schmahl led the Racers as each recorded a match-high 14 kills. Taylor Olden picked up a double-double woith 13 kills and 11 digs. Katlyn Hudson and Scottie Ingram each registered 22 digs to lead the team.
Madiosn Wessling paced the Skyhawks with 10 kills while Emily Keaton recorded a team-high 14 digs. Amanda Crask just missed her third triple-double of the season with eight kills, nine digs and 33 assists.