SATURDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Illinois 3, @UT Martin 0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-14)
@Belmont 3, Eastern Kentucky 0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-18)
SIUE 3, @Southeast Missouri 1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23)
Austin Peay 3, @Tennessee Tech 1 (26-24, 19-25, 27-25, 25-21)
Morehead State 3, @Tennessee State 0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-10)
@Jacksonville State 3, Murray State 2 (25-21, 25-19, 15-25, 22-25, 15-8)
BELMONT 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont volleyball (8-10, 1-1) swept Eastern Kentucky Saturday in the Curb Event Center.
The Bruins took a 3-0 lead in the first set and EKU overcame the deficit to take an 11-9 lead. Belmont responded by scoring two straight points and tying the set at 11-11. At that point, both teams battled back and forth, exchanging points. The opening set saw 12 ties.
With the set tied at 17-17, Belmont scored two straight to take a 19-17 lead. The Bruins continued to extend their lead with the Colonels cutting to edging closer. Behind back-to-back kills from junior Scarlet Gable (Munford, Tenn.) and an EKU attack error, Belmont took set one, 25-22.
Belmont scored six straight points in the second to put the Bruins ahead by nine, 19-10. The Colonels silenced their run with a 5-0 run to close the gap, but Belmont responded with their own run.
Senior Jen Myer (New Braunfels, Tex.) sparked a run for the Bruins which lead to the squad scoring six straight to close out the set, 25-15.
Through two sets, the Bruins held EKU to a .058 hitting percentage.
After the break, both teams exchanged points before Belmont scored six straight points to take a 9-3 lead.
The Bruins continued to take control over the third set, as Belmont went on a 6-2 run to take a 23-10 lead. EKU responded with their own run scoring six straight points to bring the set to 23-18. Consecutive errors from EKU allowed Belmont to take the set, 25-18.
Senior Allison McCoy (Huntington Beach, Calif.) led the Bruins with a .769 hitting percentage and 10 kills. Gable also added 10 kills.
Alex Plagens led the Colonels with 13 kills while Dena Ott posted a team-high 14 digs.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Junior Liz Landon led a balanced offensive attack as Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team won a four-set (26-24, 19-25, 27-25, 25-21) Ohio Valley Conference decision against Tennessee Tech, Saturday, at the Eblen Center.
Landon continued her recent string of strong performances, finishing with a team-best 13 kills less than 12 hours after recording a career-high 14 kills at Jacksonville State. She also proved big on the defensive side, assisting on six of Austin Peay’s 10 blocks.
Austin Peay (4-13, 1-1 OVC) got off to a strong start, grabbing a 16-10 lead in the opening set. However, the Lady Govs squandered the early lead as Tennessee Tech rallied to tie the set 24-24. Austin Peay stopped the TTU run with junior Jada Stotts’ kill and
senior Lauren Henderson ended the set with a kill for the 26-24 victory.
Tennessee Tech (4-8. 0-2 OVC) built off the momentum it used to tie the first set and controlled the second set wire-to-wire. The Golden Eagles broke out to a 10-5 lead and closed the set with a 6-2 run en route to the 25-19 victory.
The third set was a back-and-forth battle with 11 ties and four lead changes in the frame. Tennessee Tech strung together three straight points to build the first multi-point lead for either team, 16-13, and held a 23-19 advantage late in the set. Austin Peay battled back using a 3-0 run that included a pair of Landon kills to cut the deficit to 23-22.
Tennessee Tech ended the Austin Peay burst and got to set point thanks to a Cody Dodd kill. APSU fended off that set point with another 3-0 run to get to its own set point at 25-24. After an exchange of points, senior Calyn Hull got the Lady Govs to set point again and the Lady Govs capitalized with a block by Landon and sophomore Aubrey Marsellis to win a 27-25 decision.
Tennessee Tech broke out to a 5-1 lead in the fourth set only to watch Austin Peay rally to tie the set at 9-9 and take an 11-9 lead. That 5-0 lead-taking burst proved decisive as the Lady Govs managed that lead to a 25-21 match-clinching victory.
Plybon was joined by teammate senior Hillary Plybon for a dominant front-row pairing. Plybon finished with nine kills and no errors for an impressive .643 attack percentage. She also had a hand in three of APSU’s blocks.
Junior Jada Stotts finished with 11 kills in her second outing back from injury. She again suffered from an inconsistent outing, recording 10 attack errors in the match. Still junior setter Cami Fields was able to distribute the ball well with five players recording eight or more kills despite Austin Peay posting just 52 team kills.
Tennessee Tech’s Natalie Penrod led all hitters with 17 kills. Ellen Conti chipped in 16 kills to help lead the Golden Eagles to a 63-kill outing. TTU could not overcome a sub-par outing in the service game, committing 10 service errors while allowing six APSU service aces.
SIUE 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - SIUE volleyball collected a season-high 63 kills Saturday as the Cougars rolled to a four-set victory over Southeast Missouri at Houck Field House.
SIUE evened its Ohio Valley Conference record at 1-1 and moved to 5-10 overall. Southeast dropped to 8-8 overall and 1-1 in the OVC.
A season-best five SIUE hitters finished with double digits kills. The Cougars were led by Cori Harris' career-high 17 kills. The Cougar senior hit .341 for the match. Alicia Streetar, Kristen Torre, Hilary Trevino, and Kelsey Augustine joined Harris in double figures. Augustine was the most efficient hitter of the day with 10 kills on just 17 attacks.
The Cougars and the Redhawks went point for point in set one. The score was tied for a 12th time at 20-20 before SIUE won the final five points behind the Mangun's strong serve.
Set two was a defensive battle for both teams. Chelsea Colclasure picked off 14 digs in the second set. The Redhawks, however, made just one attack error to even the match.
Harris continued to power the Cougars with 10 kills over the final two sets.
The Cougars would win both of the final two sets after being tied 23-23 in each set. Harris picked up her only service ace of the day on set point of set three. Harris also was on the serve at match point to close out the match.
Southeast Missouri finished with four players with double digit kills. Colleen Yarber led the Redhawks with 14 kills and 17 digs.
Along with Colclasure's season-high 30 digs, Kasey Schumacher turned in one of her best defensive performances of the season with 16 digs.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Junior middle blocker Laura McDermott led the Morehead State volleyball team in kills for the second consecutive match, and the Eagles recorded eight aces Saturday to top host Tennessee State 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-20) at Kean Hall.
McDermott landed 12 winners and hit .345, while senior outside hitter Aryn Bohannon served three aces and added seven kills on a .333 attack efficiency. Morehead State won its 24th consecutive Ohio Valley Conference match, its 25th straight OVC road match and improved to 2-0 in the league and 11-5 overall. The Tigers slipped to 0-2 in the league and 3-9 overall.
It also marked MSU's 11th straight victory over Tennessee State. The Eagles lead the series, 45-8.
McDermott has 50 kills and a .336 hitting percentage in the last four matches. Bohannon upped her career kill total to 997. She is vying to become a member of the 1,000-kill, 1,000-dig club at MSU. Fewer than 10 players in program history have reached that mark in both categories.
The Eagles got a team-high 16 digs from senior libero Leslie Schellhaas as MSU edged TSU in digs, 49-46. The Eagles totaled 40 kills and hit .211. Tennessee State hit .145.
MSU junior right-side hitter Alex Fitzmorris added seven kills and a team-high four block assists. Arijauna Anderson had a match-best 13 kills for the hosts. Naomi Wells, the OVC leader in kills per set, was held to seven successful spikes but added 17 digs.
The Eagles raced to a 7-1 advantage in the opening set. TSU never led but rallied to make it a tight contest. MSU had a 18-15 lead late but scored the next three to gain momentum.
The second set featured only three lead changes. Morehead State distanced itself following an 8-8 tie with a 9-4 run. The final set saw six ties, but MSU never relinquished the lead. The hosts cut the margin to 21-20, but the Eagles scored the final four tallies.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, UT MARTIN 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - Eastern Illinois volleyball earned an impressive sweep of UT Martin (25-22, 25-21, 25-14) to move to 7-8 overall and and even 1-1 mark in early Ohio Valley Conference action.
The three-set win marks the first league road sweep by a Panther unit in nearly two years as EIU ups the all-time series lead over the Skyhawks (7-11/1-1) to 22-15.
Senior Reynae Hutchinson and sophomore Chelsea Lee paced EIU with 10 kills apiece via the outside attack.
Hutchinson also garnered her 30th career double-double behind 10 digs, while also hitting a season-high .409 off just one hitting error.
Senior Stephanie Arnold added eight kills to the Panther offense, while tying sophomore setter Marah Bradbury with four blocks apiece. Bradbury earned an assist behind 30 of the 37 total EIU kills.
Sophomore libero Stephanie Wallace led the backrow defense with 12 Panther digs, while junior serving and defensive specialist Kelsey Brooke led the service game with a pair of aces.
UTM had just one player garner double-digit kill numbers as Emily Keaton connected on 11 put-aways, as libero Chelsea Bowles led all players defensively with 15 digs.
Team-wise, the Panthers held the advantage over UTM in attack (.235-to-.153), digs (four-to-one), blocks (10-to-five), and total points (51.0-to-46.0).
UTM was hurt by unforced errors as both squads finished with 37 kills, yet the host Skyhawks had seven more hitting miscues than EIU and ten service errors.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, MURRAY STATE 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - – Sophomore Emily Rutherford led the Jacksonville State volleyball team with 17 kills and 23 digs to record her seventh double-double of the season to help propel the Jacksonville State volleyball team to a 3-2 (25-21, 25-19, 15-25, 22-25, 15-8) victory over Murray State.
The win helps the Gamecocks improve to 9-8 overall and 2-0 in Ohio Valley Conference play. Murray State managed to rally after dropping the first two games behind Sam Bedard's triple-double of 47 assists, 22 digs and 10 kills, but it was not enough as the Racers drop to 11-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play.
Junior Nicole Merget added 15 kills on a .343 attack percentage to go with six blocks while freshman Kacy Clinkenbeard added 10 kills to lead the Gamecocks offensive attack. Senior setter Abbey Heredia finished the night with 47 assists, 22 digs and seven kills to record her sixth double-double of the year.
Defensively, senior Kelly Cole led the way with 26 digs while sophomore Samantha Bohne finished with 16 digs and junior Alina Agamy added 11 digs.
Alyssa Lelm led the way for the Racers with 20 kills while Taylor Olden finished with 10 kills and 14 digs and Scottie Ingram added 16 kills and 21 digs. Defensively, the Racers were led by Katlyn Hudson with 24 digs while Taylor Olden and Ellie Lorenz added 13 digs apiece.
An aggressive JSU attack helped the Gameocks pull off the 25-21 first set victory. Rutherford finished the game with six kills while Clinkenbeard and Merget each finished with four kills. For the set, the Gamecocks manage to post a .300 attack percentage to claim the early lead.
The Gamecocks opened the second set with a 10-5 lead before seeing the Racers fight back to tie the match at 15-15. Rutherford then responded with two straight kills before two attack errors by the Racers helped the Gamecocks claim a 19-16 lead. The Gamecocks would then hold on for the 25-19 victory after Merget recorded two kills and Rutherford finished with one kill in the game's final three points.
The Racers rebounded in the third set, posting a .463 team attack percentage while racing away with the 25-15 victory. Lelm finished with eight kills in the set while Ingram added five kills to help MSU cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Gamecocks appeared to take control in the fourth set, racing out to an early 7-1 lead before the Racers responded with an 8-2 run to tie the match at 9-9. With the match tied 15-15, the Racers used two service aces by Lorenz during a 3-0 run to build a 19-16 lead. The Gamecocks would fight back to tie the match at 22-22 before Murray State used a service ace and a kill from Ingram to pull out the narrow 25-22 victory.
JSU took control of the fifth and final set and raced out to a commanding 10-3 lead. Heredia, Merget and Rutherford would each finish with three kills apiece to help the Gamecocks clinch the 15-8 victory to open up OVC play with a perfect 2-0 record.