SATURDAY'S SCORES
Murray State 3, @Tennessee State 0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-17)
@Belmont 3, Austin Peay 1 (25-20, 25-16, 19-25, 25-19)
Jacksonville State 3, @Morehead State 0 (25-23, 25-20, 2-25)
Tennesse Tech 3, @Eastern Kentucky 2 (21-25, 26-24, 16-25, 25-20, 15-5)
@UT Martin 3, SIUE 0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-16)
@Southeast Missouri 3, Eastern Illinois 2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 18-25, 15-10)
MURRAY STATE 3, TENNEESSEE STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Murray State volleyball team swept Tennessee State 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-17) Saturday at the Kean Hall in Nashville, Tennessee.
The first set started off as a back and forth set. The two teams continued to battle until the Racers(16-4, 7-1 OVC) took a 13-7 lead. TSU (8-15, 2-6 OVC) tried to gain the advantage, but Murray State would not let them as they took the first set 25-17.
The Tigers took a quick lead in the second set, but the Racers quickly tied it 10-10. Murray State took the next four points to have a 14-10 advantage. MSU continued to show their dominance and took the second set 25-16.
During the third set, both teams battled for the advantage. Murray State took a 14-9 lead and never gave up. MSU took the third set 25-17.
Kristen Besselsen led the Racers with 13 kills, followed by Scottie Ingram with 11 kills. Sam Bedard led the team with 33 assists, while Ellie Lorenz led with 19 digs. Besselsen and Taylor Olden added 8 digs a piece.
BELMONT 3, AUSTIN PEAY 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont volleyball rebounded from a tough setback to Murray State Friday with a four-set triumph over Austin Peay (11-13, 5-3 OVC) Saturday afternoon (25-20, 25-16, 19-25, 25-19).
Belmont held a 21-17 lead in the opening stanza before APSU rallied, tallying three-straight pionts, to get to within a single point, 21-20.
The Bruins responded with kills from Emma Price (Stillwell, S.C.), Arianna Person (Lenexa, Kan.) and Jocelyn Youngdahl (Stillwater, Minn.). An APSU attacking error ended the set in BU's favor, 25-20.
The Bruins offense heated up in the second set as Belmont recorded a .324 hitting percentage and held the Lady Gov's to a -.074 attack percentage as BU easily captured the set, 25-16, in order to go up two sets to none heading into intermission.
After intermission, Austin Peay came out with a renewed sense of energy as the Lady Govs jumped out to a 7-2 advantage early on in the third set.
The Bruins got to within a point, 18-17, late in the stanza but APSU tallied seven of the next nine points to prevail, 25-19, and push the match into a fourth set.
With Belmont leading, 17-14, in the following set the Bruins tallied five of the next six points to extend its lead to a commanding, 22-15 advantage.
A Youngdahl kill followed by back-back kills from Person helped end the set, 25-19, and the match as the Bruins prevailed, 3-1.
Person led Belmont with another outstanding effort as the freshman finished with her second double-double of the weekend with 19 kills and 14 digs. The outside hitter also added three service aces for the Bruins
Two other Bruins also finished with double-digit kills on the afternoon as Youngdahl finished with 14 off a match-best, .520 hitting percentange and senior Scarlet Gable (Munford, Tenn.) added a double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs.
Overall, the Bruins outhit the Lady Govs, .277-.112 on the contest.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, MOREHEAD SATE 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Freshman outside hitter Allyson Zuhlke recorded 18 kills and a .536 attack percentage to help the Jacksonville State volleyball team score a 25-23, 25-20, 27-25 Ohio Valley Conference win over Morehead State on Saturday afternoon at Wetherby Gym.
The Gamecocks improve to 14-10 overall, 6-2 in league action and 4-5 on the road. The Eagles fall to 0-22 overall, 0-8 in conference play and 0-11 at home. Morehead State still holds a 14-11 all-time advantage against JSU. MSU had previously won eight straight in the series.
Jacksonville State posted a .438 attack percentage in the first set and never looked back. Freshman outside hitter Charis Ludtke, senior middle blocker Nicole Merget and junior outside hitter Emily Rutherford added eight kills apiece for the Gamecocks.
Morehead State opened with a .294 offensive clip, but was limited to .167 for the match.
The Eagles notched an 11-9 advantage in team blocks. Zuhlke and junior middle blocker Brianne Glidewell stopped five attacks apiece for JSU. Sophomore setter/outside hitter Bailey Nichol posted six rejections for MSU, while junior middle blocker Hannah Sigala added five.
The Gamecocks' freshman setter, Jennifer Hart, notched 38 of 40 assists and nine digs. Rutherford registered a team-best 10 digs, while two other JSU players had nine each.
Sigala tallied a team-high 11 kills, while Morehead State senior right-side hitter Alex Fitzmorris collected a .467 attack percentage and freshman outside hitter Alli Evans recorded a match-best 13 digs.
Nichol picked up 23 assists for the Eagles, while senior setter Colbey Cameron followed up with 17.
The match featured 23 tie scores and five lead changes.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky lost, 3-2, to Tennessee Tech on Saturday at McBrayer Arena.
Set scores were 21-25, 26-24, 16-25, 25-20 and 15-6 in favor of the visiting Golden Eagles.
Senior Alexis Plagens led the Colonels (16-8, 6-2 OVC) with a match-best 24 kills. Rachel Vick finished with 11 kills. Abbey Cvelbar contributed 52 assists and Dena Ott totaled 23 digs.
In the decisive fifth set Tech scored eight of the first 11 points. EKU cut the deficit to 11-6 on a Golden Eagle error but Tennessee Tech rolled off four points to win the match.
Kellie Williams led Tech (10-14, 5-3 OVC) with 22 kills. Cody Dodd added 12 kills for the winners.
Eastern Kentucky had 63 kills, compared to 49 for the Golden Eagles. However the Colonels had 10 more errors. Tennessee Tech held a 13-7 advantage in blocks, but EKU had three more digs (87-84).
UT MARTIN 3, SIUE 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin volleyball team made short work of the SIU Edwardsville Cougars this afternoon, picking up its second sweep of the Ohio Valley Conference season with a 3-0 win (25-16, 25-20, 25-16) at Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
The Skyhawks (10-12, 3-5 OVC) hit .311 this afternoon – the highest attack percentage they have posted in OVC play this season. UT Martin slammed down 38 kills against just 10 errors in 90 attempts, hitting over .360 in two of the three sets.
A total of five players had five or more kills for UT Martin today. Allie Whimpey had a team-high nine kills while Madison Wessling added eight rally killers. Madison Bergren handed out 28 assists while Chelsea Bowles’ 14 digs shored up the defense for the Skyhawks.
A pair of Whimpey kills helped UT Martin jump out to a 4-1 lead in the first set. The margin stayed at three points until a 3-0 Skyhawk run provided UT Martin with an 11-5 lead after a Colleen Larson service ace. The Cougars would eventually creep within four points (17-13) before the Skyhawks reeled off four straight points to go on top by a 21-13 margin. Another Larson service ace gave UT Martin a nine-point edge at 24-15 before the Skyhawks clinched the set on a SIU Edwardsville service error.
The Skyhawks hit .360 in the first set, as a trio of players had three kills apiece.
UT Martin began the second set on a 7-2 run before the Cougars cut their deficit to 9-5. A service ace by Michelle McLaughlin concluded three unanswered points by the Skyhawks and made the score 12-5. A Julia Devinney kill gave UT Martin a six-point lead at 19-13 but SIU Edwardsville soon cut its deficit to two points (21-19). The margin stayed at two points at 22-20 until the Skyhawks accounted for three consecutive points to end the set.
Bowles wrangled up eight digs in the second set to lead UT Martin defensively.
SIU Edwardsville grabbed a 4-1 lead to start the third set before two Whimpey kills in the span of three points tilted the score back in UT Martin’s favor at 6-4. The Cougars scored on back-to-back possessions to tie the score at 6-all before Wessling keyed a big Skyhawk run. Wessling accounted for three kills during a 6-0 UT Martin spurt that resulted in a 12-6 Skyhawk lead. The Cougars would get within four points on three more occasions but that would be as close as they would get, as UT Martin led by as many as nine points when a Bergren kill closed out the set at 25-16.
Wessling’s four kills paced an offense that hit .375 in the set (14 kills against only two errors in 32 attempts).
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri volleyball team evened up their Ohio Valley Conference record at 4-4 Saturday with a wild 3-2 win over Eastern Illinois (23-25, 25-23, 25-19, 18-25, 15-10).
Southeast is now 8-14 overall on the season. The Redhawks won both matches at home on the weekend with wins over SIUE and EIU. EIU is now 9-12, 3-5 OVC.
The Panthers led much of the opening set but Southeast was constantly in striking distance. Down 21-17, Southeast used three points to pull within one. The Redhawks and Panthers were all knotted up at 23 but EIU was able to fend off the Redhawk offense to take set one, 25-23.
Set two was very close as the set was tied a total of 10 times. The set was tied at 19 and Southeast was able to pull ahead just enough to go ahead to take the set 25-23. Taylor Masterson and Nzingha Clarke each had five kills in the set.
The Redhawks used a 25-19 set three win to take a 2-1 lead in the match. With Southeast up 12-10, the Redhawks used five-straight points to take a comfy 17-10 lead on EIU. The Redhawks used the big lead to cruise to the set three win. Masterson once again terminated the ball five times in the set. Southeast had a match-high five blocks in set three.
The beginning of set four was the closest of the match as it was tied 12 times and the lead changed four times. Tied at 17, the Panthers used an 8-1 run to take set four, 25-18, and tie up the match at two sets apiece and force a fifth and final set.
The Redhawks used five-straight points to go up on EIU, 6-2, in the final set. Southeast was up as much as seven points in the set. EIU cared to make it interesting but the Redhawks were able to wrap up the set, 15-10, and win the match in five sets.
Masterson finished with 16 kills, just one short of tying a career-high. Masterson hit .609 with four blocks. Clarke had 10 kills with eight blocks. In all, four Redhawk hitters finished in double-digit kills including Andrea Baylin and Kelsey Keeve each with 12 kills. As a team, Southeast hit .288.
Southeast finished with 14 team blocks.