FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 3, Southeast Missouri 0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-17)
@SIUE 3, UT Martin 1 (25-19, 19-25, 25-23, 25-20)
Belmont 1, @Tennessee Tech 1 (25-15, 25-15, 22-25, 25-16)
@Jacksonville State 3, Tennessee State 2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 15-13)
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois volleyball played host to Southeast Missouri in an OVC conference matchup Friday night. The Panthers swept the Redhawks winning in three sets (25-19, 25-21, 25-17).
The Panthers showed aggressiveness early dominating the first set. The Panthers would dominate the Redhawks not allowing them to take the lead once. Laurel Bailey, Taylor Smith, and Abby Knight led the Panthers offense with four kills each. Madison Cunningham helped keep the Panthers defense in check claiming six of her team-high 15 digs.
The Second set featured a more balanced matchup as Southeast Missouri put pressure on the EIU defense pushing a match high 13 ties and eight lead changes. The Panthers were able to hold off the Redhawk offense and claim the second set by a score of 25-21.
The Panthers would hold off the Redhawks and claim the match winning the third set 25-17. The difference maker of the set was the Panthers 4-0 run ignited by an Allie Hueston kill. The Panthers defense would catch fire in the third set totaling 12 blocks. Hueston and Smith would lead the Panther block party each totaling a team-high five blocks.
Smith was able to claim her tenth double-double of the season and eighth consecutive double-double match finishing with a team-high 12 kills and a team-high 19 assists. Bailey and Smith helped the Panthers offense with their team-leading three service aces each. Gina Furlin also helped contribute to a dominant Panther offense with her 11 assists and was two digs shy of claiming her first double-double of the season.
Nzingha Clark led the Redhawks with 11 kills while Ally Dion recorded a team-high 16 digs. Allie Henkelman notched a double-double with 21 assist and 12 digs.
SIUE 3, UT MARTIN 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball won its sixth straight home match Friday, downing visiting UT Martin 25-19, 19-25, 25-23, 25-20 at the Vadalabene Center.
The Cougars improved to 13-4 overall and 3-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. UT Martin, also 3-2 in OVC play, dropped to 9-9 overall.
Ashley Witt led the team in kills with 11 followed by 10 each from Jackie Scott and Taylor Joens. Joens hit a team-best .529 with no errors on 19 attacks.
SIUE came out on fire in the first set with 17 kills and a .429 hitting percentage. UT Martin charged back in set two with Megan Fair collecting seven of her 13 kills.
The Cougar came up big late in the third set. Despite 11 tie scores and three lead changes, kills by Emily Harrison and Kiana Fields put the set away for the Cougars.
The Cougars finished the match with 10 blocks, including six from Fields.
Once again, the fourth set was close with six ties and four lead changes. SIUE went ahead for good at 11-10 with a kill by Joens. The Cougars closed out the match by winning the final three points on a kill by Harrison, a kill by Dylynn Otte and a service ace for the match by Mallory Nicholson.
UT Martin finished with 58 kills and 29 attack errors for a .186 hitting percentage. Jemima Idemudia sparked the Skyhawks with 14 kills and a .312 hitting percentage. Hannah Phillips added 10 kills for UT Martin.
SIUE had 55 kills but just 21 attack errors for a .221 hitting percentage.
BELMONT 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont Volleyball used runs early and often to assist in securing a 3-1 victory on the road Friday evening. Despite being pushed to a fourth set, the Bruins (9-7, 4-1 OVC) held off Tennessee Tech (3-14, 1-4 OVC), 3-1, to improve to 4-1 in conference play.
BU had an uncharacteristically slow start before picking up back-to-back points to make it a 4-3 set early. Suddenly, the Bruins exploded behind a 5-0 run, lifting by a pair of service aces by graduate student Jessica Vestal (Concord, Calif.) and kills by senior Arianna Person (Lenexa, Kan.) and junior Alexa Nichols (Walton, Ky.) to go ahead, 10-6. The Golden Eagles dug in and used a 4-0 rally of their own to close the gap to four points again, 14-10. Propelled by a 7-1 run, the Bruins were the first to reach 20 points. Even with both timeouts used, TTU could not find a way to contain the Bruins in any aspect of the game. A service ace by senior Ellie Ivancich (Naperville, Ill.) matched with a pair kills by senior Brie Lewis (Stillwell, Kan.) late to help hand BU the 25-15 win.
Belmont maintained its scoring frenzy into the second stanza, taking an early lead following kills by freshman Mackenzie LePage (Franklin, Tenn.) and Lewis. BU was able to hold a six-point advantage through the midpoint of the frame, going up 13-7. Tennessee Tech called timeout but the Bruins had begun the surge that would lift them to the set win. Belmont saw strong attacks on the front line from LePage, Lewis, and Vestal to keep the set win in sight. Golden Eagle attack errors sandwiched a pair of service aces by freshman Akia Warrior (Fort Worth, Texas) as BU closed the set with a 7-0 run to win 25-15.
The Golden Eagles attempted to salvage the damage done in the first two sets with an aggressive start in the third set but the Bruins quickly fired back. The teams remained separated by one point through the midpoint of the set before TTU used a 5-0 run to pull ahead, forcing the Bruin bench to burn its first timeout of the match. BU rallied and knotted the set, 19-19, forcing Tennessee Tech to call timeout. The set score would be tied four more times before the Golden Eagles grabbed the lead what would become for good as they went on to take the third set, 25-22.
The teams traded points immediately to open the fourth set, in an intense back and forth. Neither team allowed a point to be scored unanswered. BU put together a 4-0 run to pull ahead, 12-9, and the Golden Eagles immediately called timeout. The Bruins continued to roll expanding the run to 7-1 to go up, 14-9. Belmont went on to expand its lead to six points, 18-12 behind a 4-0 run, forcing Tennessee Tech to call its final timeout of the stanza. Kills by Nichols and Person lifted Belmont over the 20-point plateau and the team cruised down the stretch, taking the final frame, 25-16.
Shealene Little led Tennessee Tech with 11 kills while Jessica Oliver paced the defense with 20 digs.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State volleyball was pushed to the brink of defeat Friday night before reeling off three-straight set victories to rally for the 3-2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-18, 15-13) win over Tennessee State.
For JSU (15-8, 2-3 Ohio Valley Conference), the win secures the fifth-straight year where the Gamecocks have won their conference home opener, including all four season under head coach Terry Gamble. Overall, JSU has won seven-straight home matches dating back to last season, but will face a big test on Saturday when preseason favorite Belmont visits The Pete.
On the heels of a tough four-game road stretch, the Gamecocks came out sluggish to start the night, dropping the first two sets to fall into an 0-2 match deficit heading to intermission. Midway through the second set, freshman Brooklynne Villano entered the match for her first appearance since JSU's last home game in mid-September. The Davie, Florida, product provided a much-needed spark and remained in the contest throughout the final four frames after seeing action in just six total sets prior to Friday. She would pad her stat line with six kills, eight digs, four blocks and a service ace – all career highs – en route to helping the Gamecocks rally for the comeback.
Senior Allyson Zuhlke carried a heavy workload in the five-setter finishing with 21 kills on a season-high 56 attacks. Senior Charis Ludtke came off the bench for the first time this season to finish with nine kills, while Villano, Kaylee Frear and Mackenzie Rombach each had six. Setter Jennifer Hart had her 15th match of the year with over 30 assists as she dished 34 of JSU's 54 kills. Sophomore Rachel Perucki recorded 17 assists.
On defense, all ten Gamecocks who entered the match not at the middle blocker position recorded a dig, leading to 60 total for the team led by Senior Hannah Kirk's 13. JSU out-blocked the Lady Tigers, 13-6.5, fueled by Zuhlke and Frear's six rejections apiece.
JSU began its comeback in the third set edging in front from a 17-17 tie. Later up by one, 22-21, JSU took the final three points to seal its first set of the night. In the fourth, it was a 16-all score that Jax State pulled away from finishing on a 9-2 run to even the match at two sets apiece. Villano and Rombach had back-to-back kills to end the fourth.
As it had all night, JSU fought back from deficits of 4-7 and 10-11 and in the fifth, before Zuhlke evened the score at 12-12 with a kill. With Ludtke at serve, TSU made consecutive errors to open the door for JSU, and Zuhlke sent a ball off the block to cap JSU's first five-set OVC win since 2015.
Katora Roberts led TSU with 19 kills, followed by Rachel Henderson with 18. Samantha Beltran dished 61 of the Lady Tigers' 64 assists.