SATURDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 3, Austin Peay 0 (25-20, 28-26, 25-17)
@Murray State 3, Tennessee State 0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-20)
Eastern Kentucky 3, @Tennessee Tech 1 (25-18, 16-25, 25-21, 25-17)
@Eastern Illinois 3, Southeast Missouri 2 (25-22, 24-26, 20-25, 25-17, 16-14)
Morehead State 3, @Jacksonville State 1 (18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-21)
@SIUE 3, UT Martin 2 (25-27, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-8)
BELMONT 3, AUSTIN PEAY 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University’s offense could not get on track in a three-set (23-25, 26-28, 17-25) Ohio Valley Conference loss to Belmont, Saturday, at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (6-17, 1-7 OVC) will look back at the first and second sets as missed opportunities. The Lady Govs rallied from a 22-17 deficit with six straight points on Aubrey Marsellis’ serve to take a 23-22 lead. But APSU could not close the set and Belmont scored the final three points to win 25-23.
Belmont (9-10, 6-2 OVC) led the bulk of the second set, but Austin Peay charged late and was serving for set point at 24-21. The Bruins fended off three straight set points as they scored four consecutive points to reach its own set point, 25-24. The Lady Govs then turned aside three set points before yielding 28-26.
The Bruins took control of the third set with a 5-1 run to build a 9-4 lead. Austin Peay was not able to close the early gap and a late 3-0 Belmont run put the set away.
Senior Samantha Strother led Austin Peay with a seven-kill performance. Sophomore Kelly Ferguson added six kills, two service aces and two blocks. Austin Peay was held to 32 kills and a .115 attack percentage.
Arianna Person led Belmont with a 14-kill, 11-dig performance. Jocelyn Youngdahl chipped in 12 kills and six blocks. Belmont finished the match with 51 kills and a .244 attack percentage.
MURRAY STATE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
MURRAY, Ky. - For the second consecutive match and second time in as many days, the Murray State volleyball team came away with a three-set sweep over the second-place team in the OVC and remained perfect in conference play. The Racers defeated Tennessee State Saturday afternoon at Racer Arena, set scores went 25-21, 25-18 and 25-20.
The win is the 15th straight for the Racers (18-1, 8-0 OVC) which sets a new program record for most consecutive victories, snapping the mark set back in 2003. It was also MSU’s 16th-straight win at Racer Arena.
Kristen Besselsen led the Racer offense with 13 kills and hit .500 in the sweep. Besselsen also added 10 digs and a block assist defensively. Scottie Ingram added 11 kills and two block assists, while Olivia Chatman led MSU with three total blocks. In all, eight Racers recorded at least one kill in the win.
Defensively, MSU was able to hold TSU (10-10, 5-3 OVC) to just a .036 team attack percentage and also had six total blocks.
Sam Bedard recorded her second straight double-double in the win, leading the Racers with 34 assists and 15 digs. Ellie Lorenz added 12 from her libero spot. Besselsen, Lorenz and Taylor Olden each had a service ace in the match.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Eastern Kentucky picked up its second straight road win to move to 4-4 in OVC play with a 3-1 win over Tennessee Tech University Saturday at the Eblen Center.
EKU won by scores of 25-18, 16-25, 25-21 and 25-17.
Three different Colonels tallied 10 or more kills in the win. Celina Sanks finished with 10 kills, Johanna Boyer added 12 and Rachel Vick logged a team-high 14 kills.
EKU carried its momentum from Friday’s win into Saturday. The Colonels used a 6-0 run in the first set to pull away from Tennessee Tech. Tied at eight, Cassie Knutson assisted Sanks for the kill that put the Colonels up 9-8. EKU took the ensuing five points extending its lead to 14-8, before closing the set 25-18.
The Golden Eagles answered in the second to even the match entering the third set.
The teams traded leads in the third, as Tennessee Tech moved ahead of the Colonels to take a 15-14 lead.
However, the hot hand of Vick shifted the momentum back in favor of EKU helping the Colonels take a 20-17 lead. The Golden Eagles responded with three straight tying the score at 20.
EKU’s Ally Peters nailed three timely kills in the set’s final points lifting the Colonels to the 2-1 advantage.
The Colonels controlled the fourth set—leading by as many as nine—on their way to their second consecutive road OVC win.
Peters finished with seven kills on the night. Cody Dodd led the Golden Eagle offense with 19 kills.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 2
CHARLESTON, Ill. - A common theme of five set matches occurs when Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois square off in volleyball. Four of the last five meetings between the Panthers and Redhawks have gone on to five sets, with EIU only coming out on top in one of those matches. Today, EIU broke the trend and outlasted SEMO in an important OVC contest as the Panthers came away victorious 3-2 by scores of 25-22, 24-26, 20-25, 25-17, 16-14 and improve to 6-2 in the OVC.
The presumption that another close match between the two sides could be seen once the first set got underway. With the score tied on 10 separate occasions leading up to a Redhawk kill to tie the set up for the final time at 18-18, the Panthers began to take control of the set with a pair of Taylor Smith kills. A SEMO timeout broke the Panther rhythm momentarily, but Chelsea Lee finished off the set with a kill at 25-22 in favor of EIU.
The Panthers looked like they kept their rhythm to begin the second set as Maria Brown put EIU ahead 20-14 with a kill. From there, the Redhawks began to work their way back into the set. SEMO would go on a 10-4 run to tie the set up at 24-24. A pair of Panther errors helped the Redhawks complete their comeback and take the second set 26-24.
The Panthers saw themselves looking up to the Redhawks to begin the third set, as SEMO scored the first three points in the set to get their offense going. The Panthers were able to cut the Redhawk lead to a single point a pair of times in the set, and an ace from Marah Bradbury caused SEMO to take a timeout still ahead 15-13. The timeout did its justice for SEMO as they began to pull away late in the third set. Another Panther error gave SEMO the 25-20 third set victory.
Kayla Nesbitt tied the fourth set up at 4-4, and from there, the Panthers began to get things clicking on the offensive end. EIU was able to extend their lead to 22-17 following a SEMO error. SEMO once again tried to call a timeout to break the Panthers’ momentum, but this time were unsuccessful in doing so. A pair a kills from Allie Hueston and a final kill from Nesbitt clinched the fourth set 25-17, forcing a game five.
EIU appeared as if they were going to run away with the fifth set, jumping out to a 5-2 lead due to another Nesbitt put-down. The Redhawks came storming back however, and would knot the set up at 11-11, before an EIU timeout. After SEMO took a 14-13 lead and playing for match-point, EIU again called for a timeout. The Panthers came out firing after the timeout with three straight kills, one by Smith and two by Nesbitt to come away with the 16-14 fifth set victory.
Smith finished off a career day with her fourth triple-double of the year totaling 16 kills, 28 assists, and 22 digs. Maria Brown earned herself a double-double on the day as she finished with 12 kill and 12 digs. Lee (14) and Hueston (17) also finished with double-digit kill marks. Anne Hughes and Stephanie Wallace rounded out the Panther defense with 20 and 18 digs respectively.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Freshman Merideth Jewell led the way with 21 kills as the Morehead State volleyball team rallied past Jacksonville State, 3-1. They downed the Gamecocks, 18-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-21.
The win gives them a gutsy 2-2 record over the course of a tough four-game road swing. They also evened their record in the OVC at 4-4.
After struggling to put a halt to extended runs yesterday, the Eagles fell victim to another extended run in the first set today. After opening with an 11-8 lead, MSU saw Jacksonville State reel off nine straight points to take a 17-11 lead of their own. The Gamecocks would go on to win the set, 25-18.
But, after the first set, today's match would be the complete opposite of yesterday's loss.
In the second set, the Eagles utilized runs of seven, six and five straight points to even the match with a 25-19 win. They then rode that momentum to an impressive 25-22 third set win, where they recorded 16 kills and hit .455. Then in the fourth, junior Sydney Schuler recorded kills to give MSU their 24th and 25th points, en route to a 25-21 set win, and a 3-1 match win.
The Eagles recorded 56 kills on the match, while hitting .254. Jewell's 21 kills led the way, while Schuler finished with 10. Junior Bailey Nichol had her second straight impressive performance, adding nine kills of her own. With Nichol playing more of an attacking role, freshman Jordan Jones was asked to set the offense and she put together one of the best performances of her young career with 44 assists, just one off of her career high.
Senior Hannah Sigala added seven kills and six assists, while junior Courtney Smith had seven kills and 12 digs. Freshman Alyssa Cecil led the team with 15 digs.
Jewell, Schuler, Nichol, Sigala, Smith, and Jones all hit better than .225 in the contest.
SIUE 3, UT MARTIN 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Il.. - SIUE came from two sets down Saturday for a 25-27, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-8 triumph over UT Martin in Ohio Valley Conference volleyball at the Vadalabene Center.
Ashley Witt and Kristen Torre took center stage for the Cougars combining for 50 kills. It was the first time in the Division I era that a pair of Cougars have combined for 50 or more kills in a singles match and the first time in 15 seasons.
Witt set a single-match career high with 26 kills, tied for the fifth most in program history and the second most of the Division I era behind Torre's 29-kill effort last season at Jacksonville State.
Torre was equally as impressive Saturday and highly efficient. She finished with 24 kills and a .477 hitting percentage.
UT Martin, which dropped to 7-18 overall and 3-5 in the OVC, won a pair of sets by edging the Cougars at the end by two points. While the outcome put the Cougars in an unenviable position, Johnson continued to encourage the Cougars.
SIUE's offense grew stronger as the match continued. The Cougars recorded 16 kills in the third set and 18 more in the fourth set. Eleven of the 15 points in the fifth set were due to an SIUE kills with six coming from Witt and three from Torre.
SIUE outhit the Skyhawks .223-.158 in hitting percentage and 71-54 in kills. Mallory Mangun recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 60 assists and team-high 18 digs.
The Cougars improved to 3-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference and moved into a four-way tie for seventh place with Southeast Missouri, UT Martin and Tennessee Tech. SIUE will look to continue its winning ways on this with two more matches at home next weekend. The Cougars welcome Murray State Friday and Austin Peay Saturday.