FRIDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee State 3, @Austin Peay 2 (25-22, 22-25, 23-25, 25-17, 15-9)
Eastern Kentucky 3, @Jacksonville State 0 (25-15, 25-22, 25-14)
@Murray State 3, Belmont 0 (25-16, 25-22, 26-24)
@Eastern Illinois 3, UT Martin 1 (25-16, 25-18, 24-26, 25-19)
@SIUE 3, Southeast Missouri 1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-22)
@Tennessee Tech 3, Morehead State 1 (25-18, 18-25, 25-21, 25-17)
TENNESSEE STATE 3, AUSTIN PEAY 2
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - A fourth-set lapse proved costly as Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team dropped a five-set (22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 17-25, 9-15) Ohio Valley Conference decision to Tennessee State, Friday night at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (6-16, 1-6 OVC) dropped the opening set but battled back to build a 2-1 lead. The Lady Govs recovered from the first-set loss with a wire-to-wire win in the second set and level the contest. Austin Peay took the lead in the match as it held off Tennessee State late, winning the final three points to claim a 25-22 set victory.
The fourth set started out as a back-and-forth affair with Austin Peay leading 7-6 after a Samantha Strother kill. Tennessee State (10-9, 5-2 OVC) turned the match’s momentum with an 11-0 run that included six service aces by TSU’s Haley Hampton and two other Austin Peay errors, ending with TSU leading 17-7 en route to a 25-17 victory
The Tigers threatened to run away with the fifth set, jumping outing to a 5-1 lead. Austin Peay would trail 8-4 at the crossover before scoring four straight points to narrow the deficit to one point, 9-8, after a Sammie Ebright service ace. Austin Peay would get no closer as Tennessee State closed the match with a 7-1 run.
Strother and Ashley Slay each had 14 kills to lead the Austin Peay offense. Kelly Ferguson added a nine-kill, three-service ace, six-block performance.
Ayanna Chase led Tennessee State with a 10-kill, 10-block (three solo) double-double performance. Chloe Watson and Haley Hampton each added 14 blocks.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Eastern Kentucky cruised to 3-0 win over Jacksonville State ending a three-game skid Friday at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
EKU won by scores of 25-15, 25-22 and 25-14.
Johanna Boyer and Rachel Vick contributed 10 kills apiece to lead the Colonels. Boyer hit .348 and racked up four service aces, while Vick added four blocks in the win.
Tied at five in the first set, the Colonels’ offense sparked a 5-0 run on a kill from Celina Sanks. EKU extended its lead to 17-10, before Boyer landed three consecutive service aces putting the Colonels up, 20-10. After the Gamecocks closed the gap to 23-15, two attack errors from JSU gave EKU the set’s final two points.
A tie-breaking kill from Vick late in the second set helped the Colonels to a 5-1 run to close out the set, after the teams were nodded at 20. In the deciding set, however, EKU separated itself early building an 11-point advantage on its way to its first road win of the season.
The Colonels hit a season-best .303 and limited JSU to .151 in the same category.
Sanks hit .471 and finished with eight kills. Allyson Zuhlke led the Gamecocks with 10 kills.
MURRAY STATE 3, BELMONT 0
MURRAY, Ky. - In a battle for first place in the OVC, the Murray State volleyball team recorded its seventh consecutive sweep with a 3-0 win over Belmont. Set scores went 25-16, 25-22 and 26-24. The win is the 15th straight at home for the Racers, which sets a new program record and the 14th consecutive win overall, ties the school record.
Scottie Ingram and Taylor Olden led the Racers (17-1, 7-0 OVC) with 11 kills each. Olden also recorded a team-high four total blocks in the win. Alyssa Lelm added nine kills of her own and hit a team-best .333. As a team, MSU hit .255 in the sweep while Belmont (8-10, 5-2 OVC) hit .149 as a team.
Sam Bedard recorded another double-double as she tallied 32 assists and 11 digs on the night. Kristen Besselsen led the team with 13 digs, while Olden and Ellie Lorenz had nine and eight, respectively.
In the win, the Racers held a slight advantage in total blocks (7-5) and in service aces (7-6) but MSU had just four serving errors while the Bruins committed eight on the night, all of them coming in the first two sets.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, UT MARTIN 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois volleyball team used a team total of 12 blocks to control the Skyhawk attack and improve to 5-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference after a 3-1 set victory marked by scores of 25-16, 25-18, 24-26, 25-19.
Playing in Lantz Arena for the first time in almost a month, the EIU volleyball team were determined to use their home court to their advantage. With EIU and UT Martin trading points to start off the first set, Marah Bradbury tied the set up at 11-11 following a service ace. From there, the Panthers would go on to score the next 10 points in the set to take a commanding 21-11 lead. The Skyhawks could not slow down the Panther attack however as a Josie Winner kill sealed the first set victory 25-16.
Like the first set, the two teams would keep the game close, until six straight errors from UT Martin broke the game open in Eastern Illinois’ favor. UT Martin would trim the Panther lead down to four, but an Allie Hueston kill gave EIU a second set decision by the score of 25-18.
With a clean sweep in sets in sight for EIU, UT Martin played spoiler in the third set. Taylor Smith would tie the game at 5-5 with a kill of her own, but UT Martin would go on a pair of runs to take a 20-15 advantage. From there, EIU began to close the gap. A pair of Skyhawk errors brought the Panthers back to within three, and forced UT Martin to take a timeout. The teams would briefly trade points, and a Kayla Nesbitt kill would once again bring the Skyhawk lead to three at 23-20, and force UT Martin to take another timeout. A pair of Panther kills followed by an Anne Hughes ace, gave the Panthers a 24-23 lead. EIU could not find a way to earn the match point however, as UT Martin would steal the third set 26-24.
After dropping the third set, EIU was committed to finishing the Skyhawks in the fourth set, and a quick 14-10 lead in the early goings in the fourth set seemed to be just enough of a start for the Panthers. Smith would give EIU their biggest lead of the set at 20-13. Josie Winner would cap off the night with a kill as EIU finished the set by score of 25-19.
Smith and Bradbury finished with assist-dig double-double numbers for the Panthers. Smith would total 19 assists and 10 digs, as Bradbury led the way with 24 assists to her 13 digs. Winner, Lee, and Hueston all finished above .400 in hitting percentage. Winner also led the Panther net defense with one solo block plus five assisted blocks.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, MOREHEAD STATE 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - It was an exciting weekend opener match for the Tennessee Tech volleyball team (5-15, 3-4 OVC) as they downed conference opponent Morehead State (6-15, 3-4 OVC), 3-1, at the Eblen Center. The Golden Eagles took winning set scores of 25-18, 18-25, 25-21, and 25-17.
A service ace from Allison Morrett gave Tech the go-ahead 9-5 lead in the first set. Tech expanded to a 10-point lead at 19-10 over Morehead State. The Golden Eagles remained dominant throughout the first set and continued to push their lead to 22-12 off of a kill by Cody Dodd. From there, Tech cruised to a first set victor 25-18, out hitting Morehead State .209 to .026.
The Golden Eagles hit a slump in the second set, with the Eagles opening set play with a 9-6 lead. Morehead State then went on a 8-3 run to pull further ahead of Tech at 17-9. Kills from K'Vonna Johnson and Alyssa Povey helped to bring the Golden Eagles within five at 20-15, however, the Eagles held on to pull out the second set 25-18, while outhitting Tech .375 to .093.
Things got interesting in the third. The Golden Eagles and Eagles opened with a tie of 9-9. Tech went on a 10-4 run to pull ahead 19-13. Morehead State persisted and pulled within five at 22-17. The Golden Eagles held on and a red card issued to the Eagles' head coach gave Tech the go-ahead 24-17 lead. Despite the Golden Eagle lead, the Eagles would not back down and brought the score to 24-21, before Tech sealed a third set win 25-21.
The Golden Eagles came out with high energy in the fourth, taking the early 12-6 lead with a kill from Povey. An Eagle kill brought Morehead within five of Tech at 15-10, however, the Golden Eagles quickly created an eight-point lead at 19-11 with kills from Dodd and Johnson. Tech continued to play a smart, strong game and furthered their lead to 23-14 with a kill by Williams before closing out the set and a match 25-17 with another kill by Williams, out hitting the Eagles .355 to .156.
Williams led the Golden Eagles with 15 kills and a .282 hitting percentage, while teammate Dodd put up 13 kills and 10 digs (her 10th double-double on the season). Povey grabbed 11 kills and five blocks in the match, while teammate Wade tallied 17 digs. The Eagles were led by Hannah Sigala who collected 13 kills and a .650 hitting percentage in the match.
SIUE 3, SOUTEHAST MISSOURI 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Despite dropping the first set Friday, SIUE volleyball swept the next three for a 19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 25-22 victory over Southeast Missouri at the Vadalabene Center.
SIUE, 2-5 in Ohio Valley Conference play and 4-13 overall, grabbed some momentum heading into tomorrow's Dig Pink match against UT Martin at 2 p.m.
Southeast Missouri, 7-13 overall and 3-4 in the OVC, got off to a strong start with 16 kills in the opening set. Six different Southeast players recorded a kill during the set. Madalyn Werths would lead the way for the Redhawks with 15 kills overall followed by 11 from Nzingha Clarke.
SIUE's Kristen Torre led the Cougars the rest of the way with 17 kills and a career-high .667 hitting percentage.
Ashley Witt added 15 kills for the Cougars.
SIUE found itself down 18-17 in the third set when the rotation came around to Katie Shashack's serve. The sophomore libero reeled off eight straight points for the Cougars to take the set.
SIUE fell behind by five points in the fourth set at 18-13 but rallied late behind serves from Mallory Mangun and Taylor Joens.