FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Austin Peay 3, Tennessee State 1 (25-13, 25-18, 22-25, 25-17)
@SIUE 3, Jacksonville State 1 (26-24, 25-20, 25-27, 25-12)
@Southeast Missouri 3, Morehead State 0 (27-25, 25-13, 25-23)
@Eastern Illinois 3, Tennessee Tech 0 (25-20, 25-9, 25-22)
Eastern Kentucky 3, @UT Martin 1 (25-21, 26-24, 19-25, 25-17)
@Murray State 3, Belmont 2 (19-25, 23-25, 25-15, 30-28, 17-15)
AUSTIN PEAY 3, TENNESSEE STATE 1
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Junior Cecily Gable hammered home a season-high 16 kills, leading Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team to a four-set Ohio Valley Conference victory against Tennessee State, Friday night, at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (21-4, 9-1 OVC) posted wire-to-wire wins in the match’s first two sets. Senior Ashley Slay posted six errorless kills in the opening set as the Govs cruised to a 25-13 win. Gable followed with five errorless kills in the second set, a 25-18 APSU win.
Tennessee State (6-16, 2-7 OVC) made an adjustment during the break and it paid off. Katora Roberts posted nine kills in the third set, including back-to-back kills to secure the set victory. However, Austin Peay recovered and won the fourth set in near wire-to-wire fashion as Slay added another six kills in the frame.
Gable’s 16-kill performance was one shy of her career high set last season and she finished with a .379 attack percentage. Slay also had a 16-kill outing with a .414 attack percentage. Redshirt junior Christina White and junior Logan Carger also found double-digit kill territory with 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
Tennessee State’s Roberts led all hitters with 18 kills with a .333 attack percentage. Maya Evans had six kills and six blocks.
SIUE 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball extended its winning streak to seven matches Friday with a four-set victory over Jacksonville State at the Vadalabene Center.
The Cougars, now 17-4 overall and 7-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference, bested the Gamecocks 26-24, 25-20, 25-27, 25-12.
Friday's match was all about momentum.
Jacksonville State, 18-10 overall and 4-5 in the OVC, marched out to a 20-13 lead off the serve of Rachel Perucki in the first set.
The Cougars, however, outscored Jacksonville State 13-4 over the rest of the set, including two service aces from Taylor Joens after a JSU timeout. Joens would finish the match with a career-high six service aces.
Samantha Knight's kill on set point put the Cougars up a set. SIUE had 18 kills in the opening set coupled with 10 attack errors.
The momentum carried SIUE to a second set victory with five kills in the set by Jackie Scott. Three straight attack errors by Jacksonville State on Katie Shashack's serve gave SIUE a cushion at the end.
Jacksonville State rallied in set three by going ahead by as many as 10 points at 15-5. After watching the Cougars come back from seven points down in the opening set, SIUE fans watched the Cougars rally again, tying the set 24-24 and 25-25 before Allyson Zuhlke's kill won the set for the Gamecocks at 27-25.
Zuhlke led JSU with 14 kills.
After nearly pulling off another comeback, set four was all SIUE. The Cougars hit .375 during the set with four kills from Ashley Witt. The Cougars also picked up key blocks from Dylynn Otte and Annie Ellis.
Joens led SIUE's offense with 15 kills followed by 10 from Scott.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois volleyball played host to Tennessee Tech in an OVC conference matchup Friday night. The Panthers beat the Golden Eagles winning in three sets (25-20, 25-9, and 25-22).
The Panthers came out strong to open up the match against the Golden Eagles winning the first set 25-20. Taylor Smith, Maria Brown, and Allie Hueston all led the Panthers in kills for the first set each totaling four kills. The first set featured a bunch of Panther runs that would secure the victory for EIU. EIU didn’t allow Tennessee Tech to grab the lead from them once in the first set.
The second set was all about EIU. The Panthers dominated the second set not allowing the Golden Eagle to tie the score once in the set and winning 25-9. The Panthers scored their largest run late in the set when they jumped on a 6-0 run ignited by a Brown kill. Leading the offensive charge for the Panthers was Smith who tallied five kills in the set. The Panthers would collect their best hitting average of the night in the second set totaling an average of .385.
Tennessee Tech would challenge the Panthers in the closest set of the evening tying EIU for a total 13 times and claiming six lead changes. EIU was able to spoil a Tennessee Tech comeback and take the match closing out the third set 25-22. Laurel Bailey and Hueston helped close out the match collecting a set-high six kills each.
Smith claimed her twelfth double-double of the season collecting ten kills with no hitting errors, a team-high 36 assists, and eight digs. Hueston led the Panthers offense in kills collecting 14. Defensively leading the Panthers was Anne Hughes who picked up 19 digs.
Shaneice James, Rachel Thomas and K'Vonna Johnson each had seven kills to lead Tech. Susie Jeziorowski had a team-best 27 assist while Kirsten Brugere paced the Golden Eagles with 26 digs.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, UT MARTIN 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Eastern Kentucky University volleyball team got back on the winning track, downing the University of Tennessee at Martin in four sets on Friday night at the Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
The Colonels won by scores of 25-21, 26-24, 19-25 and 25-17.
After the break the Skyhawks found themselves down two sets and in a 16-11 hole, but responded with a 12-1 run to tilt the score back into UT Martin favor, 23-17. A block from Jemima Idemudia and Megan Fair and a kill from Jamie Rys spoiled the Colonel sweep and forced a fourth set, 25-19.
The squads took turn exchanging blows in the fourth set. With UT Martin down just one point, 15-14, Cassie Knutson came up with a kill to help EKU pour in six unanswered points and blow open the set, 22-14. The Skyhawks would chip in three more points but putaways from Kaylin Johnson, Celina Sanks and Katelynn Caserma-Kloeble sealed the victory for the Colonels, 25-17.
Both teams played even-handed the first two sets with neither team having the clear advantage. Back-to-back kills from Knutson closed the first set, 25-21. The second frame seemed to be a copy of the first, going point-for-point down the stretch. Tied 24-all the Skyhawks made a crucial service error to give EKU set point, Knutson again put down the winning ball to take the set 26-24.
Knutson tallied her second triple-double of the season and led all players with 16 kills combined with 25 assists and 10 digs. Sanks notched her eighth double-double of the season with 16 kills and 14 digs. Maria Ferragonio contributed her first double-double of the season with 20 assists and 13 digs.
The Colonels hit a match-best .351 in set one and .222 in the second stanza.
Chloe Rojas led all players and matched her career-high 30 digs.
Kaylin Johnson and Clairissa Hankinson pitched in four blocks apiece.
EKU improves to 8-15 (6-3 Ohio Valley Conference) while UT Martin falls to 10-12 (4-5 OVC).
UT Martin's Megan Fair led the team with 15 kills while Jemima Idemudia had 13. Kenzie Hinshaw notched a double-double with 31 assists and 12 digs. Brooke Gyori led the Skyhawks with 21 digs on the night.
MURRAY STATE 3, BELMONT 2
MURRAY, Ky. - The Murray State volleyball team rallied from a two sets to none deficit Friday evening and rattled off three consecutive set victories to come-from-behind and defeat Belmont 3-2 at Racer Arena in a wild and thrilling contest. Set scores went 19-25, 23-25, 25-15, 30-28 and 17-15.
The Bruins (11-11, 6-4 OVC) had three match points in the fourth set and two in the fifth set that the Racers were able to rally from. Belmont had service errors leading 14-13 and 15-14 in that final set. For the match, MSU (14-7, 6-3 OVC) tallied five aces and just two serving errors while Belmont had nine aces but 14 errors.
Rachel Giustino led the Racers with 14 kills and a career-best 23 digs. Becca Fernandez also had a career-best 23 digs in the victory. Dacia Brown added eight kills on the night while Rachel Holthaus and Courtney Radle each chipped in with seven. Holthaus also added 11 digs and, along with Katirah Johnson, tied for the team lead with two blocks each.
Ashley McBee led the way for MSU with 20 assists in the win. McBee also tallied her third consecutive double-double as she notched 11 digs. Callie Anderton had 17 assists.
Belmont out-hit the Racers .118 to .108 on the night and also had a 14-5 edge on total blocks.
The Bruins Arianna Person led all players with 21 kills while also adding 18 digs. Emma Price dished out 59 assists to go with 18 digs. Elli Ivancich paced the Bruin defense with 29 digs.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, MOREHEAD STATE 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri swept visiting Morehead State on Friday night. Scores were 27-25, 25-13 and 25-22.
Krissa Gearring led the Redhawks with 11 kills while Haley Bilbruck added 10. Keegan Fornoff recorded 23 assist while Allie Henkelman had a team-best nine digs.
Lauren Rokey posted a double-double of 10 kills and 10 digs to lead Morehead State. Junior libero Danielle McCarson equaled Rokey on defense with 10 digs.