FRIDAY'S SCORES
Belmont 3, @Eastern Kentucky 0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-21)
Murray State 3, @Southeast Missouri 0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-21)
UT Martin 3, Austin Peay 0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-15)
@Morehead State 3, Tennessee State 2 (26-24, 13-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-13)
@Eastern Illinois 3, Tennessee Tech 0 (25-14, 26-24, 25-15)
@SIUE 3, Jacksonville State 2 (25-23, 16-25, 25-15, 27-29, 15-12)
BELMONT 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
RICHMOND, Ky. - Eastern Kentucky fell to Belmont, 3-0, in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.
EKU overcame a sluggish start in the first set that saw Belmont go up 4-2 early, to jump out to a 7-4 lead. The Colonels continued to add to their lead, moving in front 16-9. Belmont then rallied to tie it at 18-18. The teams spent the rest of the set exchanging points until Belmont won the set, 26-24.
The Colonels kept it close early in the second set, but the Bruins went on a 6-0 run to take a lead that they would not relinquish, going on to win 25-16.
The third set saw a flurry of points being scored by both squads. The match stayed close until Belmont pulled away late to win, 25-21.
The Colonels were led by Celina Sanks with 10 kills and Johanna Boyer with 15 assists. Chloe Rojas, a freshman from St. Charles, Illinois, contributed a game-high 21 digs.
The Bruins were led by Emma Price’s 26 assists, Emily Richards’ 14 digs and Arianna Person’s 13 kills.
EKU had 26 kills compared to Belmont’s 38.
MURRAY STATE 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Taylor Olden became the 11th member of the 1,000-kill club in Murray State program history Friday night as the Racers opened OVC play with a sweep over Southeast Missouri on the road. Set scores went 25-23, 25-23 and 25-21.
Scottie Ingram led the way for the Racers offensively with 17 kills. Ingram also had a team-high 13 digs in the match. Kristen Besselsen added 12 kills in the win, and Alyssa Lelm and Olden had nine each, while Lelm led MSU (11-1, 1-0 OVC) hitting .615.
The Racers were actually out-hit in the match for just the second time this season (.230-.225) but had 20 more swings than the Redhawks (4-10, 0-1) and also had seven service aces to SEMO’s one.
Sam Bedard recorded another double-double as she led the way with 43 assists on the night. Bedard also added 10 digs and an ace. Besselsen and Ingram led the way with a pair of aces each in the victory. Olden and Besselsen also added 10 and eight digs, respectively.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - After being away from Lantz Arena for four straight weekends, the Panthers finally returned home in style to begin Ohio Valley Conference play as they swept the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles in straight sets (25-14,26-24,25-15) on Friday night.
Returning to play in front of the home crowd for just the second time this season, the Panthers match the crowd energy from the get-go to begin the first set. After a TTU service error gave EIU a 13-9 lead, the Panthers rolled off the next four points topped off by an Abby Saalfrank kill for a comfortable 17-9 advantage. The Panthers continued applying the pressure to the Golden Eagle defense as Maria Brown and Saalfrank finished the first set with booming kills to give the Panthers a 25-14 first set victory.
The hot streak continued into the early part of the second set for the Panthers, as Kayla Nesbitt used a kill of her own to put EIU ahead by six points. TTU worked their way back into the set and tied the game at 24-24. Taylor Smith ended the Golden Eagle rally with a put-down, and a TTU attacking error finished the second set with a 26-24 Panther decision.
With their sights set on a clean sweep to begin conference play, the Panthers would refuse to let the Golden Eagles play spoilers. After Allie Hueston put EIU ahead by six with a kill; TTU called a time out to regroup.
The time out would work momentarily as TTU cut the lead in half to a three point margin, but a service ace from Stephanie Wallace shifted the momentum back in favor of the Panthers as EIU would go on to score seven of the next nine points. Brown would put the game away with a kill earn the Panthers a 25-15 win in the third set.
Nesbitt lead the Panther attacking game with 11 kills, while Hueston chipped in 10 of her own. Wallace paced the EIU defense with 18 digs, and now sits at four digs shy of becoming the All-Time career digs leader in program history.
UT MARTIN 3, AUSTIN PEAY 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - The middle blocker duo of Kiah Cheatham and Alisha Erves combined for over two-thirds of the University of Tennessee at Martin’s kills tonight as the Skyhawks opened Ohio Valley Conference play with a convincing 3-0 victory (25-16, 25-15, 25-15) in front of 577 fans at Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
Cheatham piled up a season-high 14 kills with zero errors in 21 attempts, hitting .667 to go along with a pair of service aces and a season-best five blocks. Erves tallied 10 kills with only two errors in 19 swings (.421 attack percentage) for UT Martin, who improved to 5-13 overall while playing in front of the 10th largest crowd in program history.
“It feels really great to start conference play at 1-0,” said UT Martin head coach Jaclynn Yocum, who made her Skyhawk Fieldhouse coaching debut this evening. “We knew our gameplan going in was to utilize our middles and we executed that beautifully – it was an entire team effort.”
Ellie Cain (30 assists, eight digs) engineered a Skyhawk offense that hit .281 in 89 attempts. Amanda Crask stood out defensively with a team-high 10 digs and three blocks while Chelsea Bowles and Colleen Larson also chipped in with nine and eight digs, respectively, as the Skyhawks held the Lady Govs to a -.010 attack percentage for the match.
Austin Peay (5-11, 0-1 OVC) was responsible for the first point of the match but UT Martin roared back with seven unanswered points, two of which came off Bowles’ service aces. Back-to-back kills by Cheatham helped the Skyhawks expand their lead out to 9-2 before a Lady Govs run cut UT Martin’s lead to three points (14-11). The Skyhawks followed by piecing together four of the next five points to put the set out of Austin Peay’s reach, as Austin Peay would not get any closer than five points the rest of the way.
Cheatham had four kills in seven swings in the first set, as UT Martin took advantage of 10 Lady Govs’ attack errors in the opening set.
A pair of early kills and a solo block by Cheatham gave the Skyhawks a 5-2 lead to crank up the second set, giving UT Martin a lead it would not concede for the entire set. Austin Peay was able to even the score at 6-all but Erves slammed down two straight kills to tilt the score back in favor of the Skyhawks, who would expand their lead out to five points (13-8) before the Lady Govs closed within two points at 15-13. However, UT Martin closed out the set on a 10-2 run – aided by four Erves kills.
Erves hit .700 (seven kills, zero errors in 10 attempts) while Cain accumulated 12 assists as the Skyhawk offense hit .345 in the second set.
Cheatham lifted UT Martin early in the third set, as the junior from Kalamazoo, Mich. accounted for five kills in the process of giving the Skyhawks a 7-5 lead. Austin Peay tied the score at 7-all but UT Martin would later use a 6-0 run to create some separation. Three straight kills by Lael Ceriani, Cain and Madison Wessling ignited the Skyhawk run that resulted in a 16-9 UT Martin lead. An assisted block by Cheatham and Crask pushed the Skyhawk lead out to double-digits at 22-12 and moments later, Ceriani capped off the sweep with a kill to end the match.
Once again, it was Cheatham who paced UT Martin offensively – as she had seven kills in eight attempts. Cain registered 12 assists as the Skyhawk offense hit .303 (14 kills, four errors) in 33 swings.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 2
MOREHEAD, Ky. - In a back-and-forth match, the Morehead State volleyball team (4-11) was able to come out on top as they downed TSU, 3-2. The win gives the Eagles a 1-0 start in OVC play. They won the match 26-24, 13-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-13.
In the first set, Morehead State trailed 15-12, but reeled off four straight points to take the lead. After TSU scored four of the next five points, the Eagles responded again, reeling off five straight points this time, to take a 22-19 lead. After failing on three straight set points, MSU was able to regroup and take the set 26-24 following a kill by senior Hannah Sigala and a Tennessee State attack error.
The second set, however, was a different story. The Eagles struggled mightily, allowing the Tigers to record 17 kills and hit .652, and fell, 25-13.
Building off of their momentum, the Tigers jumped out to 14-9, 18-14, and 22-17 leads in the third set. But, the Eagles would respond, in a big way. Staring a 2-1 deficit in the face, they scored eight of the last nine points of the set, including the last seven, to win the set from behind, 25-23. They recorded five kills in the last seven points, two from junior Bailey Nichol, two from freshman Merideth Jewell, and one from Sigala.
The big move in the third set was a switch to a 6-2 offense, as the Eagles went with two setters in Nichol and freshman Jordan Jones.
Going into the fourth, it was Tennessee State's turn to respond. Leading 20-17, the Eagles appeared on their way to the win, but TSU rallied to take the lead at 23-21 and eventually won the set, 26-24.
Avoiding the slow starts that have hampered them throughout the early season, Morehead State jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the pivotal fifth and led the entire way. The winner coming at 15-13 on a Smith kill from Nichol.
The Eagles had four players finish with double-digit kills as Sigala led the way with 15 and Nichol, Smith, and junior Sydney Schuler each had 10. Sigala's 15 kills tied a season-high and she hit an impressive .273. Nichol, who has spent the majority of the season as a setter, embraced the role of attacking, doing so 26 times and hitting .269. Schuler added six block assists to her totals, while hitting .375.
But, it was Smith, who missed the entire season a year ago due to injury, that may have had the best all-around game. She hit a team-best .375 in the win and finished with 11 digs.
Jewell finished the game with nine kills, but committed 14 errors and hit just -.106. The three-time OVC Newcomer of the Year outwardly struggled for what may have been the first time of the seaon, but her team was able to overcome her rare off-game and get the win.
SIUE 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball started the Ohio Valley Conference season on a positive note Friday night with a 25-23, 16-25, 25-15, 27-29, 15-12 victory over Jacksonville State at the Vadalabene Center.
The Cougars improved to 1-0 in the OVC and 3-8 overall.
Kristen Torre continued her dominance of Jacksonville State with 24 kills and a .457 hitting percentage against the Gamecocks, 7-9, 0-1 in the OVC. Torre's career high is 29 against Jacksonville State set last season.
Ashley Witt was equally as strong with a career-high 21 kills and four blocks.
Witt started on a hot streak right away against the Gamecocks with eight kills in the opening set. After Jacksonville State evened it one set apiece, the Cougars rebounded with a fierce third set with five kills each from Witt and Torre.
Johnson said the Cougars showed resilience and maturity even in sets it did not win.
SIUE's offense took over the match in set five with 12 kills.
SIUE returns to the court Saturday for a 2 p.m. matchup against Tennessee Tech at the Vadalabene Center. With a donation of three (3) non-perishable items, all fans can gain free admission, sponsored by the Main Street Community Center. All of the food items will be donated to the Glen Ed Pantry.