SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 3, Eastern Illinois 0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-23)
Belmont 3, @Tennessee Tech 0 (25-17, 25-12, 25-13)
Southeast Missouri 3, @Murray State 0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-12)
@Austin Peay 3, UT Martin 0 (25-17, 25-23, 25-16)
@Morehead State 3, SIUE 1 (25-21, 25-17, 21-25, 25-16)
@Jacksonville State 3, Tennessee State 0 (25-21, 26-24, 30-28)
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky defeated Eastern Illinois 3-0 Saturday at McBrayer Arena.
EKU won by scores of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-23.
Eastern (8-12, 2-4 OVC) went 16-for-36, recording a .389 attack percentage, while holding the Panthers to .283 in the first set. The Colonels led by as many as eight points, before the Panthers (9-10, 3-3 OVC) answered with six straight points to take a 16-15 lead.
Eastern Kentucky went on to outscore EIU 9-6 to take the set. Sophomore Rachel Vick recorded two late kills to give the set to the Colonels, 25-22.
Junior Abbey Cvelbar was 4-for-4 in attacks and recorded 11 assists to lead the Colonels in the first set.
EKU hit .167 in the second set, as the teams traded points. The Colonels gained a 14-13 edge compliments of a kill from Vick. Junior Alexis Plagens and sophomore Mallori Moffat recorded service aces as EKU controlled the remainder of the set to give the Colonels a 25-22 win in the second.
The final set saw 13 ties, with the last coming at 23 apiece. Following an Eastern Kentucky timeout, the Colonels took advantage of an EIU attack error and freshman Johanna Boyer hammered the match-winner for the Colonels.
Senior Ashley Edmond led the Colonels with 12 kills and 14.5 points. Cvelbar finished with seven kills and 29 assists. Dena Ott contributed a match-best 18 digs. Vick totaled a match-high five blocks.
Senior Reynae Hutchinson posted 19 kills and 10 digs for the Panthers, while sophomore Marah Bradbury added 34 assists and 14 digs.
BELMONT 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont volleyball (10-13, 3-3) swept Tennessee Tech in straight sets on Saturday afternoon.
Tennessee Tech struck first in the opening set, but Belmont won the set, 25-17. A TTU attack error sparked a run for giving Belmont at five-point lead, 12-7. The Golden Eagles closed the gap by three, but behind kills from seniors Allison McCoy (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Jen Myer (New Braunfels, Tex.), Belmont extend its lead to 23-15 before ending the set on a 2-1 run.
The Bruins took a 4-1 lead in the second set and their lead continued to grow. Belmont scored five straight points to capped by a pair of kills from junior Scarlet Gable (Munford, Tenn.) to take an 18-8 lead over TTU.
Kills from senior Danielle Prochaska (Middleton, Wisc.) and sophomore Jocelyn Youngdahl (Stillwater, Minn.) closed the set, 25-12, giving the Bruins a 2-0 advantage at the intermission.
Tennessee Tech took a 2-1 lead after the break, but a kill from Youngdahl sparked the Bruins to score four straight points and take a 5-2 lead. TTU ended the run with one point, before a kill from McCoy resulted in nine straight points for the Bruins, 14-3.
Belmont continued to extend its lead and a pair of kills from junior Alex Martin (Ooltewah, Tenn.) and McCoy ended the set, 25-13.
Myer and Gable both registered 10 kills. Martin, who had hit .750 Saturday added 9 kills. Senior Jamie Lundstrom (La Grange, Ill.) paced the Bruin defense with 13 digs while senior Hannah Miranda (Covington, La.) dished out 31 assists.
The Golden Eagles were led by senior Natalie Penrod who put down a team-high 10 kills, and added six digs. Senior Ashleigh Hancock added 27 assists, while junior Courtney Smith tallied 17 digs.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, MURRAY STATE 0
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State women's volleyball couldn't build on their win from last night over UT Martin as they fell in straight sets (23-25, 22-25, 12-25) to Southeast Missouri. The Racers drop to 12-8 (2-4, OVC) on the season while SEMO improves to 10-9 (3-3, OVC).
Set number one was a wild affair with neither team gaining more than a three-point advantage. The score was knotted up several times, including as late as 17-17. The Redhawks then scored the next four points, thanks in part to a kill and service ace from Taylor Masterson to take their largest lead of the game, 21-17. MSU tried to rally, bringing the score to one, 24-23, but with a chance to tie, Colleen Yarber ended the set with her third kill to give the Redhawks a 1-0 lead.
The second set was a near repeat of the first. A back and forth stanza that saw seven ties and five lead changes. SEMO jumped ahead early, 11-5 thanks to a 5-0 run aided by three Racer attack errors. Trailing 16-11, Murray State made their move, scoring six straight points to take their first lead since the opening point. The Racers pushed the lead ahead to 21-18, getting a pair of kills from Sam Bedard and kills from Scottie Ingram, Alyssa Lelm, Emily Schmahl and Taylor Olden during the 10-2 run. The lead was short-lived though and the Redhawks sealed a 25-22 win scoring the final six points of the set, getting two service aces from Yarber and a kill from Masterson.
After trailing 4-3 in the third and final set, SEMO scored four straight points to claim a lead they would never relinquish, cruising to a 25-12 win. The Redhawks scored 12 of the final 16 points in the set.
Murray State shot themselves in the foot committing 38 attack errors and finishing with a .000 attack percentage, both season worsts. By comparison, the Redhawks committed just 11 attack errors. They also finished with 17 blocks to the Racers one.
Alyssa Lelm led the Racers with a game-high 10 kills and a .368 attack percentage. Sam Bedard mediated the offense with 27 assists, a match-high. She was also one of four Racers with double-digit digs. Katlyn Hudson led the defense with 15, followed by Ingram (14), Bedard (13) and Olden (10).
Andrea Baylin led the Redhawk attack with eight kills. She also contributed nine digs and 3.5 blocks. Masterson finished with 4.5 blocks, six kills and five digs.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, UT MARTIN 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn .- Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team never trailed in a three-set Ohio Valley Conference sweep (25-17, 25-23, 25-16) of UT Martin, Saturday, at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (8-14, 5-1 OVC) led wire-to-wire in the first set and for was not tied until 23-23 in the second set. The Lady Govs opened that second frame with a 5-2 lead and built a 19-13 advantage. However, UT Martin climbed back into the set with a 10-4 run to tie the set, 23-23, after a kill by Madison Wessling. Austin Peay’s Jada Stotts posted a kill to give APSU control and set point which it immediately capitalized on courtesy a kill by Aubrey Marsellis for the 25-23 victory.
UT Martin (8-14, 2-4 OVC) did not allow Austin Peay to build a sizeable lead early in the third set, forcing the last of four ties at 5-5. The Lady Govs posted a 4-0 run to take a 9-4 advantage and secured the set with a later 6-0 run that was entirely composed of UTM attack errors to build a 19-10 lead en route to the 25-16 match-clinching win.
The Lady Govs needed just 38 kills to record the victory, finishing the match with a .248 attack percentage. No Austin Peay hitter reached double-digit kill territory, Henderson’s eight kills leading the APSU effort. The Lady Govs did finish with 10.5 blocks, Marsellis again leading the effort with six stops.
UT Martin recorded 35 kills but was charged with 22 errors and finished with a .112 attack percentage. Wessling led the Skyhawks with 11 kills.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, SIUE 1
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Junior right side hitter Alex Fitzmorris tallied a match-high 16 kills as the Morehead State volleyball team posted a 3-1 victory (25-21, 25-17, 21-25, 25-16) over SIU Edwardsville on Saturday at Wetherby Gym.
The Eagles improved to 15-5 on the season and 6-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference with their 11th win in the last 12 matches. The Cougars fell to 7-12 overall and 3-3 in conference play. The win also marked MSU's 28th straight regular-season league win.
MSU sophomore outside hitter Courtney Smith contributed 12 kills via a team-best .303 attack efficiency. Junior setter Colbey Cameron dished out 48 assists, had five kills, and came up with 14 digs. Senior libero Leslie Schellhaas recorded a match-high 26 digs helping the Eagles record a 73-60 dig advantage.
The Eagles also held a 10-7 team block advantage over the Cougars. MSU has tallied double digit blocks now in five of the last seven outings.
Senior outside hitter Aryn Bohannon served up a team-high four aces and moved into 10th place in career aces at the school with 160.
SIU Edwardsville got a team-high 36 assists from Mallory Mangun, while Chelsea Colclasure paced the Cougars with 24 digs.
The first set ended with a 4-0 MSU run, which featured three Fitzmorris kills.
Smith helped the Eagles jump out to a 6-1 lead in the second set with three kills. MSU held its lead for the rest of the set. On the contrary, the Cougars led from start to finish the entire third set.
Morehead State used a 6-0 run in the middle of the fourth set to end the contest with the nine-point advantage
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JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - – Freshman Kacy Clinkenbeard led three players in double figures with 15 kills to help the Jacksonville State volleyball team complete the 3-0 (25-21, 26-24, 30-28) sweep over Tennessee State Saturday night at Pete Mathews Coliseum in Ohio Valley Conference action.
Sophomore Emily Rutherford added a double-double with 11 kills and 10 digs while junior Nicole Merget finished with 12 kills on a .409 attack percentage to help the Gamecocks improve to 11-10 overall and 4-2 in OVC play. The Lady Tigers were held to a .162 attack percentage while falling to 5-11 overall and 2-4 in conference play.
Senior setter Abbey Heredia finished with 38 assists and eight digs to lead a JSU offensive unit that hit .256 for the match. Defensively, senior Kelly Cole led the Gamecocks with 18 digs.
Naomi Wells led the Lady Tigers with 17 kills and 14 digs on the night while setter Erika Moss finished with a double-double of 39 assists and 20 digs. Defensively, Ileanushka Maldanado led TSU with 14 digs.
The Gamecocks opened the first set on a 5-0 run behind the serve of Rutherford. Long and Rutherford each posted one kill to go with two errors by the Lady Tigers before an ace by Rutherford gave JSU an early 5-0 lead. TSU would manage to fight back and pull within one at 17-16 following an attack error by the Gamecocks.
JSU responded with kills from Clinkenbeard and Merget to pull away 19-16. From there, the Gamecocks would hold on for the 25-21 victory. Rutherford and Clinkenbeard each finished with five kills apiece in the set as the Gamecocks posted a .256 hitting percentage in the opening set victory.
The Gamecocks fell behind 10-5 in the second set but used a 9-1 run to claim a 14-11 lead. Clinkenbeard and Merget each knocked down two kills to lead the JSU surge. The Lady Tigers would fight back and tie the match at 24-24 after an attack error by the Gamecocks and a kill from Arijana.
Rutherford would then answer with a kill to help JSU reclaim the lead before an attack error by Anderson helped JSU escape with the 26-24 victory. Merget would finish with a game-high six kills in the set as the Gamecocks hit .308 as a team to take a 2-0 lead.
JSU would open the third set on a 5-0 behind four kills from Clinkenbeard. The Lady Tigers would manage to rally, responding with a 6-0 run to take a 6-5 lead behind three kills from Wells. The two teams would then swap points until TSU was able to take a 24-20 lead off an error by the Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks would manage to rally once again behind the serve of Rutherford, using a 4-0 run to tie the match at 24-24. The two teams would swap points until Clinkenbeard's kill tied the match for the final time at 28-28. The Gamecocks would then use an attack error by the Lady Tigers and a kill from Merget to seal the 30-28 victory to secure the sweep over the Lady Tigers.