TUESDAY'S SCORES
@Austin Peay 3, Murray State 0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-17)
Belmont 3, @Tennessee State 1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-19)
@Jacksonville State 3, Tennessee Tech 1 (25-17, 25-19, 20-25, 27-25)
@UT Martin 3, Southeast Missouri 2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 18-25, 16-14)
AUSTIN PEAY 3, MURRAY STATE 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - In front of a raucous home crowd, Austin Peay State University volleyball team swept Murray State (25-20, 25-23, 25-17) to remain unbeaten in Ohio Valley Conference play, Tuesday night, at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (9-10, 3-0 OVC) cruised to a 25-20 victory in the opening set as senior outside hitter Jada Stotts recorded six kills without an error in the frame. The Lady Govs recorded 16 kills and a .316 attack percentage in the first set while holding Murray State to 14 kills and a .189 attack percentage.
Murray State (11-4, 2-1 OVC) threatened to run away with the second set, using a 10-1 run to build a 16-9 advantage. Austin Peay cut into the lead with four straight points, but it was a 6-0 APSU run – with three kills by sophomore Sammie Ebright – that closed the gap to one point, 20-19.
Murray State got on the cusp of set point, leading 23-21, but could not find a 24th point. Instead, Austin Peay scored the final four points of the set with freshman Ashley Slay providing two kills and Stotts another before a Racers attack error ended the set with APSU winning, 25-23.
Both teams traded 6-0 runs to start the third set. Murray State opened with a 6-0 run, including four kills, before Austin Peay responded with a 6-0 run of its own, with just two kills and a service ace. The Lady Govs used a 7-2 run, including three kills by Ebright, to take control of the set, 17-12. The teams would trade points until Ebright struck again with back-to-back kills to secure a 25-17 victory for the match.
Ebright finished with 14 kills and a team-leading .444 attack percentage, while chipping in three blocks. Stotts added 15 kills at a .282 attack percentage. Austin Peay finished with 47 kills and a .267 attack percentage for the match.
Scottie Ingram led Murray State with 10 kills, but was the only Racers hitter to reach double-digit kill territory. Murray State recorded just 38 kills at a .131 attack percentage in the loss.
BELMONT 3, TENNESSEE STATE 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont volleyball notched its first road victory of the season Tuesday evening as the Bruins came back from a set down at Tennessee State to capture the final three sets and push their way to their second-straight victory (18-25, 25-23, 25-20, 25-19).
Belmont (6-10, 2-1 OVC) displayed some rust early on as Tennessee State used an 8-0 run midway through the first stanza to pull ahead, 18-10. The Bruins could only trim the Tiger lead to five points the rest of the way as TSU captured the opening set, 25-18.
The Bruins found themselves ahead, 16-13, in the second stanza before three-straight TSU points tied the set. The two teams traded the next eight points as the two teams still found themselves knotted at 20.
Belmont separated itself the rest of the way as BU recorded five of the next eight points as a kill by Maddison Croft (Edwardsville, Ill.) ended the set in the Bruins' favor, 25-23.
The third set was a closely fought battle through most of the stanza as a kill by TSU's Arijana Anderson tied the match at 18.
The Bruins responded in a big way, tallying seven of the next nine points in order to take the set, 25-20.
TSU came out hot offensively to start the fourth set as the Tigers jumped out to an early advantage, 10-5.
The Bruins still found themselves trailing, 13-10, before tallying seven of the next eight points in order to take the lead, 17-14
.
TSU (6-11, 1-2 OVC) wouldn't go away quietly, however, as the Tigers recorded four of the next five points to tie the set at 18.
That would prove to be the final tie of the set as Belmont quickly seized control and rallied off six-straight points to set up match point, 24-18.
After a TSU kill by Naomi Wells, a Tiger attack error proved to be the final point of the match as the Bruins rallied to defeat their crosstown rivals in four sets.
A pair of Bruins led the way, as both produced their third double-double in the last four matches as outside hitter Arianna Person (Lenexa Kan.) paced Belmont offensively with an 18 kill, 12 dig performance and rookie setter Emma Price (Fort Mill, S.C.) finished with 43 assists to go with 10 digs.
Senior Alex Martin (Ooltewah, Tenn.) finished with a match-best seven blocks, including one solo attempt, while Croft led the Bruins with a .368 attack percentage, hammering down eight kills on 19 attempts.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State volleyball team completed the sweep of its opening homestand by defeating Tennessee Tech 3-1 (25-17, 25-19, 20-25, 27-25) to improve to a 3-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Gamecocks (9-8, 3-0 OVC) took the opening two sets from the Golden Eagles (7-12, 2-1 OVC) before dropping the third. It looked as if the match may be heading to a fifth set before the Gamecocks rallied from down 24-22 to claim the fourth and hand TTU its first conference loss.
Senior Nicole Merget was dominant for the Gamecocks offensively with a .500 attack percentage which led to 13 kills, which was second most on the team. Allyson Zuhlke, a freshman from Tomball, Texas, led the way with 15 kills, followed by junior Emily Rutherford with 10 of her own.
Junior Samantha Bohne led defensively with 20 digs. Freshman Jennifer Hart was second with 13 digs and she also dished a team-high 40 assists.
In the opening set the Gamecocks used a combined .429 hitting percentage to power past the Golden Eagles 25-17. Zuhlke recorded seven of her 15 total kills in the opening set to push the Gamecocks to an early lead in the match.
In the second, Tech took an early 3-0 lead but the Gamecocks soon found their game and responded to come back and take a sound 18-13 lead en route to a 25-19 set victory. Merget's .714 hitting percentage in the second set was her best of any set and led to five kills.
Leading the match 2-0, the Gamecocks weren't able to complete the sweep as TTU took the set 25-20. In the match, the Golden Eagles were led offensively by Kellie Williams with 18 kills and defensively by libero Courtney Smith, who tallied 23 digs.
The fourth set was back-and-forth with 11 total ties. Jacksonville State came back from down 24-22 late, facing set point and then advanced to a 27-25 win to claim the match.
UT MARTIN 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 2
MARTIN, Tenn. - UT Martin defeated a visiting Southeast Missouri in five sets on Tuesday night. With the win, the Skyhawks improve to 1-2 in OVC play and 6-10 overall while the Redhawks fall to 0-3 in league action and 5-11 overall.
UT Martin was led by Emily Keaton who tallied a match-high 21 kills to go with eight digs. Madison Bergren recorded a double-double with 51 assists and 13 digs.
Southeast Missouri's Taylor Masterson recorded 17 kills to lead the team while Krissa Gearring recorded a team-high 17 digs.
Full recap coming soon.