TUESDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 3, @Morehead State 0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-23)
@UT Martin 3, Southeast Missouri 0 (25-14, 25-17, 25-23)
Tennessee Tech 3, @Jacksonville State 1 (25-21, 25-13, 20-25, 25-17)
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, MOREHEAD STATE 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - For the second time this season, the Eastern Kentucky University volleyball team topped in-state Ohio Valley Conference opponent, Morehead State, with a 3-0 win Tuesday at Wetherby Gym.
Eastern Kentucky won by scores of 25-20, 25-21 and 25-23.
Morehead State held a five-point advantage to start the third set, but the Colonels kept the Eagles’ lead within reach. With EKU trailing 12-9, three-straight Morehead State errors knotted the score at 12 apiece.
The ensuing 20 points saw the score tied seven different times, as the teams were even at 22 following a kill from EKU’s Ally Peters.
A timely kill from Johanna Boyer put the Colonels up 23-22, as EKU looked to declare its fifth straight win over the Eagles. Following a Morehead State timeout, Peters and Rachel Vick denied an Eagles’ attack giving the Colonels a 24-22 advantage.
The Eagles took the next point, pulling within one before Vick sealed the deal with her seventh kill of the night for EKU.
The Colonels started fast in the first set, taking a 6-1 lead over the home standing Eagles. Eastern Kentucky extended its lead to 19-11, forcing a Morehead State timeout. A kill from Vick ceased a 9-4 MSU run as the Colonels took Tuesday’s first set.
Morehead State opened the second set with a 4-1 run, before the Colonels answered with four straight taking a 5-4 lead. Eastern Kentucky used three service aces and nine kills through the set to help assemble a 23-17 lead. A kill from Peters gave the Colonels the set-point advantage, before a Morehead State error solidified EKU’s 2-0 lead.
Eastern Kentucky (10-21, 9-6 OVC) continued its efficiency on the serve Tuesday, logging 10 service aces for the second consecutive match. The Eagles recorded two service aces in Tuesday’s match.
Vick and Peters led the Colonels with seven kills and four blocks each. Boyer logged three kills and three service aces in the win.
Hannah Sigala recorded a match-high 12 kills as Merideth Jewell added eight kills for the Eagles.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Tennessee Tech volleyball team (8-20, 6-9 OVC) had a big road win over Jacksonville State (14-20, 4-11 OVC) in their Tuesday conference matchup to help push them closer to post-season play. The Golden Eagles saw victory in four sets (3-1) over the Gamecocks, taking winning set scores of 25-21, 25-13, 20-25, and 25-17.
Tech came out swinging in the first set opening with back-to-back kills from Kellie Williams and Cody Dodd to take the 2-0 lead. The Golden Eagles then went on a 5-1 run to extend their lead to 7-1. The Gamecocks persisted and pulled within two points at 9-7, however, the Tech team band together to hold on to their lead. A K'Vonna Johnson kill later gave the Golden Eagles the 14-13 edge over JSU, however the Gamecocks continued to pursue and tied the set at 16-16 with a kill from JSU's Mackenzie Rombach. From there, the two teams kept within close range of one another holding ties on-and-off until 21-21. Then, senior Dodd refused to back off and put down back-to-back kills to take the 23-21 lead and cause the Gamecocks to call a timeout. Out of the break, the Golden Eagles continued to fight and took a first set victory 25-21.
A tie of 5-5 opened second set play between Tech and JSU. A kill from Williams gave the Golden Eagles the five-point lead at 11-6. From there, Tech continued to extend their lead to 14-8 to then go on a 6-1 lead to push ahead 20-9. The Golden Eagles saw no mercy as they closed out a strong second set 25-13 ending with back-to-back kills from Johnson.
Things got a little rocky for the Tech team as they went into the third set. This time, JSU opened with the early 4-1 lead before the Golden Eagles could tie the match at 6-6 with kills from Dodd and Johnson. The two teams battled, however, the Gamecocks held on to a slight edge at 12-10. JSU kept a strong attack as they extended their lead to 18-14. Tech tried to recover their deficit and brought the match to 22-18 with a kill from Williams, however, the Gamecocks held strong and saw victory in the third set 25-20.
The Golden Eagles came with vengeance in the fourth set, opening with a strong 7-3 lead and a kill by Johnson. Determined to see victory, Tech extended their lead to 14-11 with a kill from Alyssa Povey, before taking a seven-point lead at 20-13 with a kill from Williams. The Golden Eagles continued to minimize errors and pushed on to seal a fourth set and match victory 25-17, ending with a big kill from Dodd.
Dodd took the reins in the Golden Eagle match with JSU chalking up 23 kills, 13 digs, and a .283 hitting percentage for her 17th double-double on the season. Williams posted 11 of her own kills, while teammate Kirsten Brugere had 13 digs. As a team, setter Sharon Anderson led the team to an overall .245 hitting percentage, while the Golden Eagles posted 12 blocks to the Gamecocks 8. Emily Rutherford led JSU with 17 kills and 11 digs.
UT MARTIN 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee at Martin volleyball team set the tone early in a complete 3-0 victory (25-14, 25-17, 25-23) over Ohio Valley Conference foe Southeast Missouri this evening at Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
With the win, the Skyhawks improve to 9-23 on the season with a 5-10 OVC mark. With nine matches pending around the league, UT Martin is currently a half-game out of the OVC Tournament picture heading into the regular season finale against Tennessee Tech on Friday.
Ellie Cain directed an efficient offense this evening for UT Martin, divvying out 33 assists for a Skyhawk squad that hit .207 on the night. Lael Ceriani had a team-high 10 kills while Madison Wessling (nine kills, eight digs) and Kiah Cheatham (eight kills, five digs, five blocks, three service aces) also helped guide UT Martin.
Defensively, Chelsea Bowles scooped up a team-high 11 digs for the Skyhawks while Jamie Scherb continued her strong freshman campaign with 10 digs – reaching double-figures in that category for the fifth time in the last six matches. Amanda Crask also chipped in with a career-high six blocks for the Skyhawks.
UT Martin charged out of the gate in the first set, never trailing for the duration after hitting .462 with only one attack error. Kills by Cheatham and Ceriani helped the Skyhawks claim an early 4-0 advantage before UT Martin stretched its lead out to 7-2 on a Crask solo block. Wessling slammed down back-to-back kills before a Ceriani kill made the score 13-4 in favor of the Skyhawks. Later on, a service ace by Cheatham kept the Skyhawk lead at nine points (18-9) before yet another Wessling kill resulted in a double-digit lead for UT Martin at 20-10 before the Skyhawks closed out the set.
The play of Wessling (four kills) and Cain (10 assists) was a big part of UT Martin’s fast start in the first set.
The Skyhawks briefly trailed (2-1) in the second set but quickly reclaimed the lead on a Colleen Larson service ace and would not concede the advantage the rest of the way. A Cheatham service ace helped UT Martin build a 6-3 lead before the Redhawks inched back within a single point at 7-6. The Skyhawks quickly answered with a 5-0 run but Southeast Missouri was able to slice its deficit to three points thanks to a 3-1 spurt. A Crask kill then ignited a stretch of four unanswered points for UT Martin before Erves put an exclamation point on the set with an emphatic kill to give the Skyhawks a 2-0 advantage.
Wessling once again had four kills while Cain registered nine assists as the UT Martin defense limited Southeast Missouri to a .034 attack percentage in the second set.
UT Martin jumped out to another big lead in the third set before staving off a furious comeback attempt by the Redhawks. Southeast Missouri took a 5-2 lead early on but six unanswered points by UT Martin gave the Skyhawks an 8-5 lead off a Cheatham service ace. Erves accounted for four kills in a stretch of eight possessions to help UT Martin expand its lead to 16-7. Moments later, Cheatham delivered a kill to make the score 21-12 in favor of the Skyhawks but the Redhawks would soon take over, climbing all the way back to tie the set at 23-all. However, UT Martin kept its composure and concluded the sweep with kills by Ceriani and Cheatham on the next two possessions.
Erves had five kills with no errors on six swings in the third set while Cain compiled 14 assists in the third and final set. Bowles and Scherb each had five digs apiece for a Skyhawk unit that tallied 23 digs in the set.
Madalyn Werths led the Redhawks with nine kills in the match, followed by Masterson's eight. Marie Less led defensively, earning 15 of Southeast's 43 total digs.