SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Belmont 3 Southeast Missouri 0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-20)
@SIUE 3, Austin Peay 1 (24-26, 25-22, 25-19, 25-21)
@Tennessee State 3, UT Martin 2 (25-17, 22-25, 26-24, 28-30, 15-13)
@Eastern Illinois 3, Murray State 2 (25-21, 14-21, 20-25, 30-28, 16-14)
@Eastern Kentucky 3, Jacksonville State 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-21)
@Morehead State 3, Tennessee Tech 1 (17-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-16)
BELMONT 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont Volleyball (11-11, 8-2 OVC) defeated Southeast Missouri State University (8-14, 4-6 OVC) in three straight sets 25-18, 25-18 and 25-20.
Sophomore Arianna Person played another phenomenal match finishing with 20 kills for an average of .432 along with 12 digs. Redshirt freshman Alexa Nichols (Walton, Ky.) and senior Jocelyn Youngdahl (Stillwater, Minn.) combined for 18 kills and only two errors hitting for an average of .438 and .429 respectively. As a whole the team hit .309 on the match led by redshirt sophomore Emma Price (Fort Mill, SC) who dished out 45 assists. Sophomore Emily Richards (Penfield, N.Y.) held down the back row with 17 digs.
The Bruins started the match with four straight kills from Person that resulted in an early 4-1 lead. Belmont continued to attack aggressively from the net and the service line to take the 11-6 advantage. SEMO retaliated with a three points run and pulled within two but a kill from Person after a long rally gave Belmont the 15-12 advantage. The two teams traded kills until a four point run from the Bruins closed out set one 25-18. Both middles, Youngdahl and Nichols, went 4-7 with no errors for a sizzling average of .571.
In set two Belmont and SEMO would trade off points until an ace from Richards and a block from freshman Maggie Mullins (Nashville, Tenn.) and Youngdahl gave Belmont the 8-4 advantage. Belmont continued to attack the ball and with seven kills and an ace that Bruins pushed their lead to 16-9. Belmont went on a four-point run highlighted by an ace from sophomore Brie Lewis (Stillwell, Kan.) and took a double-digit lead 22-12. SEMO roped together three straight points but a crushing kill from Person closed out set two 25-18.
Belmont started with two kills from Person in set three and SEMO retaliated with three straight points to take a 3-2 lead. After going back and forth for a handful of points Belmont ran off eight straight and took a 12-5 lead. SEMO pushed hard the latter half of the set and brought the score within three 23-20, but a kill from Person and an error from the Redhawks gave the Bruins the victory 25-20.
SIUE 3, AUSTIN PEAY 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Mallory Mangun posted the first triple-double in seven seasons for SIUE volleyball as the Cougars downed Austin Peay 24-26, 25-22, 25-19, 25-21 Saturday at the Vadalabene Center.
Mangun's triple-double, which included 10 kills, 41 assists, 12 digs and a .471 hitting percentage, was the first since Mallory Clements achieved it in 2008.
The Cougars improved to 6-14 overall and 4-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference with the victory. SIUE finished the home stand 3-1 and now begins a crucial five-match road swing that starts next Friday at UT Martin.
Kristen Torre powered the SIUE offense with 22 kills and a .386 hitting percentage. Nine of Torre's kills came in the fourth set. Ashley Witt and Taylor Joens added 12 and 10 kills, respectively. SIUE finished with 66 kills, the most this season for the Cougars in a four-set match.
SIUE's efficiency also was at a season high. The Cougars hit .248 for the match.
Much of SIUE's effectiveness was rooted in its defense, which reeled in 77 digs. Witt led the way with 19 followed by 16 from Katie Shashack, 14 from Joens and 12 from Mangun.
Austin Peay, 6-19 overall and 1-9 in the OVC, captured the first set with six different players recording kills. Logan Carger would lead the team for the match with 12 kills as the Lady Govs finished with a .167 hitting percentage.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, UT MARTIN 2
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee State volleyball team (11-11, 6-4 OVC) took things to five-sets for the second day in a row, this time coming put on top with a 3-2 victory over UT Martin (7-20, 3-7 OVC).
A .465 hitting percentage with 22 kills and only two errors kept the Tigers in control through the first set. An early 7-2 run on the service of freshman Zahria Graham and junior Chloe Watson allowed the Tigers to jump ahead 12-5. TSU’s offense kept the pressure on the Skyhawks to extend their lead 20-10. UT Martin threatened to make a comeback with a 7-3 run, but kills from freshman Ayanna Chase and junior Taylor Patterson would secure a 25-17 first-set victory for the Tigers.
The second set was a back-and-fourth affair, with UT Martin leading 13-10 after a couple of UTM blocks. The Skyhawks extended their lead to 16 before 5-2 run highlighted by kills from Watson and sophomore Samantha Beltran, allowed the Tigers to tie up the set. The teams continued to battle, tying things up two more times before a 6-3 run by UT Martin would give the Skyhawks a 25-22 second-set win over the Tigers.
The Tigers came out hot after the half, taking an early 12-6 lead. Kills from Watson, Beltran and Graham would extend the Tiger lead to 15. The Skyhawks chipped away at a five-point deificit with an 8-1 run to take a 17-16 lead over the Tigers. Things were back and fourth between the teams until a 4-1 run put UTM a point away from their second win of the day. The Tigers battled back with a run of their own to tie things up at 24. A bad set by UT Martin and a service ace from Beltran would give the Tigers a 26-24 come-from-behind win and a 2-1 advantage over the Skyhawks.
The teams were neck and neck in the fourth with the Tigers leading 13-12 after a kill from Chase. Continued pressure from UT Martin’s offense and a couple of Tiger errors allowed the Skyhawks to take an 18-16 lead. Two Tiger blocks, a service ace from Beltran and a kill from Chase would allow the Tigers to take back control of the set with a 20-18 lead before forcing UTM to take a timeout. A 4-1 run put the Tigers a point away from victory, but errors would allow for UT Martin to tie things up once again. The teams would tie the set up four more times before back-to-back kills from UT Martin secured a 30-28 victory over the Tigers to force a fifth set.
TSU threatened to run away with the fifth set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. The Tigers would continue to lead 8-5 at the crossover before a 4-2 run would narrow UT Martin’s deficit to two points, 12-10, after a Tiger attack error. Two back-to-back kills from Watson would put the Tigers one point away from victory. Ayanna Chase closed out the game with a kill to secure a 15-13 fifth-set win and a 3-2 conference victory over UT Martin.
The Tigers had four players with over 10 kills for the set. Junior Chloe Watson, who recorded her twelfth double-double of the year, led the team with 22 kills and 10 digs. Freshman Zahria Graham notched her second double-double of the year with 15 kills and 11 digs. Senior Haley Hampton recorded 14 digs and had a team-high .423 attacking percentage. Ayanna Chase also recorded a career-high of 14 kills and had 7 blocks through five sets.
Samantha Beltran recorded her sixth double-double this year, dishing out 59 assists and recording 22 digs. Senior Madison Halterman led the defense with 30 digs on the day.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, MURRAY STATE 2
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Coming into tonight’s game facing the lone undefeated team in the OVC, the Panthers were in for a tough task facing the likes of the Murray State Racers. In front of a large capacity crowd for Eastern Illinois’ Homecoming Weekend, EIU was able to top Murray State and hand them their first loss of the season in OVC action in a five set affair. The Panthers came away with a 3-2 victory (25-21, 14-25, 20-25, 30-28, 16-14) as they improved to 8-2 in the conference while Murray State drops to 9-1.
The Panthers came out of the gates hot to start the game as they earned the first three points capped off by a Josie Winner kill. Murray State quickly scored three straight points of their own to tie the game at 3-3. Both teams kept the game close, until the Panthers were able to begin to separate themselves in late in the set, thanks to three Murray State attacking errors. Taylor Smith ended the first set for the Panthers will a kill marking the score at 25-21.
Murray State came out with a sense of urgency in the second set, as the quickly raced out to a 6-1 lead. The Panthers could not quite bring themselves back into the game, as the Racers would earn the second set by a score of 25-14.
Abby Knight would put the Panthers ahead towards the middle of the third set with a kill, but their two point, 14-12 lead, would quickly vanish as Murray State began to settle in. After taking a 15-14 advantage, Murray State never looked back the rest of the set and would take a 2-1 set lead following a third set, 25-20 win.
In a set that saw the score tied on 17 different occasions, neither team would be able to lead by more than four points. Sam Bedard put Murray State up 20-16, but the Panthers would not quit just yet. A pair of kills by Allie Hueston and a Murray State error knotted the set at 23-23. Neither team could quite take an advantage over one another as the score would be tied at 24-24, 25-25, 26-26, 27-27, and 28-28. Hueston and Kayla Nesbitt teamed up for a block to seal up the closely-knit fourth set 30-28 in favor of EIU.
Again the Racers would jump out to a commanding lead to start the fifth set, this time by a score of 7-2. This time however, EIU was determined not to let the set get too out of hand again. Hueston would bring the Panthers back to within one with another kill, but Murray State would extend their lead to three. Knight brought EIU back to within one again 12-13, causing Murray State to call for a timeout. With EIU facing Murray State serving for match point, Nesbitt and Hueston again teamed up, this time on the offensive end, as they used back-to-back kills to give the Panthers the 16-14 fifth set victory.
Despite a shaky night on the offensive end as a team, Hueston was able to finish the match with 11 kills. What kept the Panthers in the match and allowed them to earn the victory was their effort on the defensive end. Smith and Stephanie Wallace finished with a team-high 19 digs on the night each. Winner slowed down the quick hitting Racer attack with 12 blocks on the night as the Panthers collected 20 total blocks as a team.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
RICHMOND, Ky. - EKU took its fourth straight OVC match Saturday night defeating Jacksonville State University 3-0 at McBrayer Arena.
The Colonels sealed the deal in three sets winning by scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-21.
EKU’s offensive attack ignited as the Colonels took a commanding 15-4 lead in the first. The Gamecocks slowly chipped away at the lead pulling within five, 21-16, before Eastern’s Ally Peters gave the Colonels the set’s final point to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
The Colonels used two five-point runs in the second set to extend their lead to 2-0. Trailing 5-4 early, a kill from Celina Sanks knotted the set a five apiece. Kills from Sanks and Ciera Koons, along with a timely block from Koons and Cassie Knutson, helped the Colonels take the lead for good in the set. During Eastern’s next five-point run, Rachel Vick added two kills along with kills from Sanks and Knutson putting the Colonels up nine, 20-11, before closing the set.
The deciding set saw 12 ties and five lead changes before the Colonels claimed their fourth straight conference win. After Eastern appeared to have pulled away with a 14-10 lead, the Gamecocks put together their own five-point run to regain the lead.
Later in the set, tied at 16, the Colonels used yet another run to build a 21-16 cushion as they looked to the claim the win on Homecoming weekend. Eastern held off a late push from Jacksonville State to sweep its second consecutive weekend of OVC play.
The Colonels re-matched last weekend’s OVC matches against Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State. Eastern was on the road last weekend picking up a 3-0 win at Jacksonville State and a 3-1 win over Tennessee Tech. Eastern picked up a 3-1 win over Tech Friday at McBrayer Arena in the first of two Homecoming weekend matches.
Sanks and Vick led the Colonels’ attack in the win. Sanks finished with a game-high 15 kills as Vick added 10. Peters tallied nine kills along with three blocks.
Mandee Eberle posted a team-high 10 kills as Charis Ludtke logged 10 digs.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State volleyball team overcame a slow start and defeated Tennessee Tech in four sets at Wetherby Gym on Saturday afternoon. The win marks their third straight and moves them to 6-4 in conference play. Following a win over Jacksonville State last night, it also marks their first weekend sweep of the season.
They downed the Golden Eagles, 17-25, 25-19, 25-23, 25-16.
Morehead State fell behind early after Tennessee Tech closed out the first set on a 14-6 run. The Golden Eagles hit .423 in the first.
Following the first set setback, MSU would quickly regain control of the match. The latest they trailed in the final three sets was at 14-13 in the third, but they then went on an 8-2 run to open things up. Then after trailing 9-7 in the fourth, they closed it on an 18-7 run.
For the second straight match, the Eagles employed a balanced offensive attack as four players finished with 10-plus kills. Senior Hannah Sigala led the way with 14 kills on just 26 attempts, and finished with a .538 hitting efficiency. Freshman Merideth Jewell and junior Sydney Schuler recorded 11 kills and junior Courtney Smith added 10. Smith led with 14 digs, while Jewell added 11 and freshman Alyssa Cecil had 10.
Freshman Jordan Jones and junior Bailey Nichol once again ran the offense for MSU. Nichol led the way with 26 assists and Jones had 18 assists, while adding five kills and hit .364.
Ten off Schuler's 11 kills came after the first set and she hit .280 for the match.
The Eagles hit at least .200 in all four sets and finished at .279 for the match. They had 55 kills to Tech's 46.