SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Jacksonville State 3, Southeast Missouri 1 (26-24, 15-25, 25-15, 25-21)
@Belmont 3, SIUE 0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-21)
@Tennessee State 3, Eastern Illinois 2 (22-25, 26-24, 21-25, 25-22, 15-13)
@Eastern Kentucky 3, Austin Peay 2 (25-20, 25-27, 25-28, 25-20, 15-6)
@Morehead State 3, Murray State 1 (25-21, 28-26, 16-25, 25-22)
@Tennessee Tech 3, UT Martin 1 (25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 25-21)
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - – In her final regular season match, senior Nicole Merget joined the 1,000 Digs Club and her Jacksonville State volleyball team defeated Southeast Missouri 3-1 on Senior Day Saturday in Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Gamecocks (18-15, 9-7 Ohio Valley Conference) secured a winning record overall and in conference play for the first time since 2010 with the 3-1 (26-24, 15-25, 25-15, 25-21) win over the Redhawks (11-19, 7-9 OVC). In her final regular season match, Merget had 14 kills to run her career total to 1,007 and make her the 17th player in school history to reach the 1,000 kills mark.
Freshman Charis Ludtke's team-high 18 kills was just one shy of a career best for the native of Hamburg, Germany, while fellow freshman Allyson Zuhlke had 10.
Another freshman, setter Jennifer Hart, notched a double-double by dishing 47 assists and picking up a team-high 17 digs. Freshman Hannah Kirk, making her first start as libero, picked up 14 digs while junior Samantha Bohne recorded 10 of her own.
The opening set was the tightest of the afternoon as the Gamecocks edged SEMO 26-24. Ludtke provided the power with seven kills in the opening frame hitting .417. Trailing 19-15, JSU used a couple of kills by Ludtke and junior Emily Rutherford and a service ace by Bohne to tie the match 24-24 before taking the first set from the Redhawks.
The Gamecocks couldn't get anything going in the second set and hit below .000 on the way to a 25-15 set defeat. The highlight of the set was Merget's seventh kill of the match, which put the middle blocker over 1,000 in her career.
Jax State opened the third with a 13-5 lead and maintained a comfortable margin en route to a 25-15 win. The Gamecocks hit .303 combined with Merget and Zuhlke posting .500 and .400 hitting percentages, respectively.
The Redhawks held tight in the fourth set but eventually fell after JSU closed out the final frame on a 5-1 run following a 20-20 tie.
Krissa Gearring and Kelsey Keeve each finished with 10 kills for Southeast Missouri. Madalyn Werths finished with nine and Taylor Masterson and Andrea Baylin each had eight.
BELMONT 3, SIUE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont volleyball extended its winning streak to four matches Saturday afternoon as the Bruins sent its 2014 senior class out in style with a sweep of SIUE (25-23, 25-16, 25-21) on senior day.
The opening stanza proved to be a back-and-forth contest throughout as the two teams failed to create separation and stood squared at 20 late in the set.
SIUE (14-17, 6-10 OVC) tallied back-to-back points to break the tie but the Bruins responded by tallying five of the next six points as the senior duo Alex Martin (Ooltewah, Tenn.) and Kelsi Dean (Marietta, Ga.) teamed up for a block that gave the opening set to the Bruins, 25-23.
Leading 17-14 midway through the second set, the Bruins went on a run as Belmont tallied the next six points in order to extend their lead to a commanding, 22-14 advantage.
A kill by senior Scarlet Gable (Munford, Tenn.) finished out the set in Belmont's favor, 25-16, as the Bruins went into intermission leading two sets to none on the match.
BU found themselves trailing, 19-17, in the third stanza as the Cougars seemed poised to extend the match into a fourth set.
The hosts responded to the SIUE charge; as the Bruins notched the following six points in order regain the lead, 23-19.
Leading 24-21, a BU senior once again closed the door on the visitors from Edwardsville, Illinois, as a kill by Kelsi Dean gave the set to the Bruins, 25-21, and gave the Bruins a sweep on the afternoon.
Playing in her final match at the Curb Event Center, Gable recorded a near double-double with eight kills to go along with nine digs.
Freshman Brie Lewis (Stillwell, Kan.) led the Bruins with nine kills on the contest while libero Emily Richards (Penfield, N.Y.) notched a match-best 13 digs.
It was the final match for the collegiate careers of seniors Chelsea Colclasure and Haley Norris. The duo led the SIUE defense with 12 and nine digs, respectively. Colclasure is currently No. 4 in the nation among active players in career digs with 2,355.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn, - The Tennessee State University volleyball team finished up the 2014 season on Saturday with a five-set win against Eastern Illinois at Kean Hall.
The Tigers (10-21, 4-12 OVC) cooled off the Panthers (14-15, 8-8 OVC) who came into the match on a four-match win streak. During that streak, they had only lost one set while TSU was able to end a five match skid.
Naomi Wells ended her Tiger career with a bang. The Huntsville, Ala. native put down 23 kills, dug up 19 attacks, had four blocks, set up three assists, and even had a service ace. It was her 15th double-double of the year and a season-high in kills. She finishes her TSU career with 1,312 total kills.
Wells was joined by Arijana Anderson (17), Haley Hampton (12), and Taylor Swayzer (10) in double-figure kills. Madison Halterman (15), Ileanushka Maldonado (13), Samantha Beltran (13), and Jaime Cooper (11) made it five Tigers with double-figure digs.
Beltran added a career-high 58 assists to her dig total to give her eight double-doubles for her freshman year. The Ontario native also finished the year with the fifth most assists in a single season for TSU. 2014 was quite the opening act for her collegiate career.
Junior Abby Saalfrank led all Panthers with 17 kills and added 10 digs to nab her 14th career double-double. Classmate Marah Bradbury added her own duo-duo thanks to a 62 assist, 10 dig performance, as she upped her career double-double mark to 32 all-time. Bradbury also led the net defense with three blocks.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, AUSTIN PEAY 2
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky overcame a 2-1 deficit to close out the regular season on Saturday with a 3-2 home court win over Austin Peay.
EKU (21-13, 11-5 OVC) won by scores of 25-20, 25-27, 26-28, 25-20 and 15-6. Austin Peay drops to 14-18 overall and 8-8 in league matches.
Four seniors – Alexis Plagens, Dena Ott, Abbey Cvelbar and Julia Mindlina – were honored before the match.
Plagens led all players with 21 kills and also added 11 digs and three blocks. Rachel Vick contributed 15 kills and six blocks. The Colonels held an 11-8 edge in blocking.
Cvelbar finished with 53 assists and 15 digs. Ott had a match-best 23 digs.
Hillary Plybon posted a team-high 16 kills for the Lady Govs.
With the match tied 1-1, Eastern Kentucky had a seven-point lead in the third set at 22-15. However, APSU went on a 9-1 run to take a 24-23 lead. The set was tied three times before the Lady Govs won it on back-to-back EKU attack errors.
The Colonels won the fourth set to force a decisive fifth. Austin Peay scored the first point in the final set but Eastern Kentucky scored the next eight to take control. A pair of blocks by the duo of Ciera Koons and Johanna Boyer pushed EKU to match-point, 14-6. An error by the Lady Govs ended the set and the match.
The two teams combined for 22 service errors. Eastern finished with 11 more kills and four fewer attack errors.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, MURRAY STATE 1
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State volleyball team registered a 25-21, 28-26, 16-25, 25-22 decision over Ohio Valley Conference champion Murray State on Saturday evening at Wetherby Gym to send seniors Laura McDermott, Colbey Cameron and Alex Fitzmorris out with a victory.
The Eagles wrap up their campaign 3-28 overall, 2-12 at home and 3-13 in league play. The Racers, who will host next week's OVC Tournament, slip to 23-5 overall, 9-3 on the road and finish 14-2 in conference action. Morehead State also improves to 44-25 all-time versus Murray State.
McDermott, a middle blocker from Westfield Center, Ohio, wraps up her career with 997 kills and 385 blocks. She smashed 17 winners and had just two errors in 36 total attempts for a .417 attack percentage in her 131st-and-final match at MSU. She also tied a career high with nine blocks.
Cameron, a setter from Prospect, Ky., closes out her career eighth in Morehead State history with 2,203 assists after piling up 35 in her final collegiate outing. She also tallied 750 digs in 114 matches.
Fitzmorris, a right-side hitter from Overland Park, Kan., finishes her two-year MSU stint with 523 kills and 141 blocks in 66 matches. She posted five winners and six rejections in her last collegiate tilt.
Morehead State recorded a 15.5 to 5.0 advantage in team blocks. The Eagles collected three solos and 25 block assists for their second-best total of the year. Junior middle blocker Hannah Sigala added 12 smackdowns for MSU, while freshman outside hitter Alli Evans came up with 15 digs.
Sophomore outside hitter Scottie Ingram managed a team-best 15 kills for Murray State, while junior setter Sam Bedard handed out a match-best 43 assists and sophomore libero Ellie Lorenz notched a match-high 17 digs. The Racers collected a 55-42 upper hand in digs and had five aces.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, UT MARTIN 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Though some may get lost in the pageantry that is Senior Night, the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles fought through the emotions to come through for a 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 20-25, 25-21) win over the visiting UT Martin Skyhawks.
Two seniors paved the way for the Golden Eagles. Middle blocker Madison Keyes was only set 13 times during the four-set match, but she made the most of those attempts. She put down eight of the 13, while committing no errors, for an impressive and match-high .615 hitting percentage. She added five digs and three blocks.
Prior to the match, senior libero Courtney Smith knew the numbers she would need to put up to hold her place as the leading dig-getter in the Ohio Valley Conference, and she stepped up to the challenge. The senior has anchored the backcourt all season, and Saturday night was no different. Smith complied a match-high 22 digs, including nine in the deciding set, to guide TTU.
Next season, Tech will have to replace Smith's defense, but with their efforts, sophomore Kennedy Wade and freshman Allison Morrett proved themselves, digging up attacks right alongside Smith on Saturday night. Wade added 10 digs and a service ace, while Morrett scooped up nine, adding a match-high four service aces.
Offensively, TTU received double-digit kills from both junior Cody Dodd and freshman Kelly Williams. Dodd put down a match-high 16 adding nine digs, and a block. Williams tallied 11, adding a block and a dig. Sophomore setter Sharon Anderson dished out 41 assists, adding 16 digs for her 12th double-double of the season.
UT Martin received 11 kills from senior Allie Whimpy, who also added 5 blocks. Her fellow senior, Emily Keaton added seven kills and 15 digs.
As a team, the Skyhawks out-blocked TTU, 11-5.
Along with Keyes and Smith, Tech honored seniors Ellen Conti and Allison May, as well as UT's two seniors.