SATURDAY'S SCORES
SIUE 3, @Tennessee State 0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-23)
@Austin Peay 3, Southeast Missouri 0 (25-13, 25-10, 25-23)
Eastern Illinois 3, @Belmont 0 (25-20, 25-19, 25-18)
@Murray State 3, UT Martin 0 (25-20, 25-23 and 25-22)
Eastern Kentucky 3, @Tennessee Tech 0 (25-22, 25-22 and 25-23)
@Jacksonville State 3, Morehead State 2 (23-25, 25-23, 25-20, 22-25, 15-11)
SIUE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
NASHVILLE - Six SIUE volleyball players finished with six or more kills Saturday as the Cougars rolled to a 25-22, 25-17, 25-23 victory at Tennessee State.
Emily Harrison turned in the most efficient day among the top six hitters with a .389 hitting percentage. Ashley Witt was the lone player for the Cougars in double figures in 10 kills.
Jackie Scott recorded eight kills and tied Katie Shashack for the most digs in the match with 12. Taylor Joens recorded seven kills while Fields and Dylynn Otte added six kills each.
As a team, SIUE hit .237 for the match while Tennessee State recorded a .153 hitting percentage. Tennessee State's Katora Roberts led the Tigers, now 7-21 overall and 3-13 in the Ohio Valley Conference, with 10 kills.
Paulus also was able to get freshmen Rachel McDonald and Gabby Wimes some playing time.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - In the 25th anniversary season of its first Ohio Valley Conference regular season title, Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team clinched a share of the 2017 crown with a three-set sweep (25-13, 25-10, 25-23) of Southeast Missouri, Saturday, at the Winfield Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (26-14, 13-1 OVC) also clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming OVC Volleyball Championship which will be held at Austin Peay, Nov. 16-18, in the Dunn Center. Full tournament details will be made available once the entire field is set.
The Governors dominated the first two sets, posting 28 kills and a .240 attack percentage. Southeast Missouri’s offense could not get on track and was held to 12 kills and a .029 attack percentage as the Govs jumped out a 2-0 lead.
Southeast Missouri (10-17, 5-9 OVC) returned from the break and opened with a 6-2 run. The Redhawks extended that lead to 19-13 to force an APSU timeout. The Govs rallied after the stoppage, scoring six of the next seven points to close within one, 20-19. Southeast Missouri scored three straight to get within sight of set point, 23-19, but could not close the frame. The Govs scored five kills and an ace as part of a match-clinching 6-0 run.
Senior Ashley Slay paced the Govs with a match-best 15 kills and a .414 attack percentage. Redshirt junior Christina White chipped in 10 kills.
Krissa Gearring led Southeast Missouri with 12 kills, the Redhawks finishing with 28 kills for the match.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, BELMONT 0
NASHVILLE - The Eastern Illinois Volleyball team captured their first victory in program history against Belmont Saturday afternoon. The Panthers swept the Bruins winning three sets (25-20, 25-19, and 25-18).
The first set featured dominant play from EIU as they led throughout the whole set. The set featured many Panther runs as EIU was able to claim a comfortable lead over Belmont. EIU would go on a 5-0 run, which would be the biggest run for the Panthers in the set. Katie Sommer led the Panther attack totaling four kills in the set.
Belmont kicked off the second set with a 4-0 run which would be immediately answered by a 4-0 run by EIU. The second set featured more balanced play than the first set with both teams exchanging leads for a total three times. The Panthers hit for their best hitting percentage of the match posting an average of .250. Laurel Bailey sparked the Panther offense with her five kills in the set.
EIU was able to close out the match sweeping Belmont in the third set 25-18. Similar to the second-set Belmont and EIU traded points throughout the set totaling a match-high ten ties. The Panther defense totaled a set high 3.5 blocks in the third set to help EIU secure the victory.
Taylor Smith claimed her thirteenth double-double of the season finishing with team-high 11 digs and 11 assists. Gina Furlin led the Panthers with 14 assists on the day. Bailey led the offensive charge with her team-high nine kills.
MURRAY STATE 3, UT MARTIN 0
MURRAY, Ky. - Olivia Chatman put away the match-winning kill on Senior Day to help lead Murray State to a sweep over UT Martin Saturday at Racer Arena. Set scores went 25-20, 25-23 and 25-22. The lone senior Chatman, finished the day with six kills.
Rachel Holthaus led the way offensively for the Racers (18-8, 10-4 OVC) in the win as she tallied a match-high 11 kills and also added 10 digs and had a team-best three total blocks on the day. Rachel Giustino added 10 kills of her own and tied for the team lead with 12 digs in the contest. Giustino also had a team-high two service aces.
Callie Anderton had 36 assists in the sweep to lead the way for the Racers while Becca Fernandez and Alex Kaufmann added 12 digs each.
MSU out-hit the Skyhawks (11-16, 5-9 OVC) .194 to .176 in the win while also recording five service aces to UTM’s three. Both teams had seven total blocks each in the match.
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Celina Sanks notched her 15th double-digit kill and sixth double-double outing in a row Saturday night in Cookeville, Tennessee to push the Eastern Kentucky University volleyball team over the top, beating Tennessee Tech in straight sets.
The Colonels won by scores of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-23, in a match that featured 34 tie scores and 15 lead changes.
EKU led the match 2-0 coming out of the break and stayed in routine, opening the third set on an 8-2 run. The Golden Eagles used five unanswered points to shorten the Colonel lead, 10-9. The teams exchanged points down the back end of the set. A Rachel Thomas putaway knotted the set at 23 all, but a kill from Nikki Drost and Thomas attack error closed the set and match in favor of the Colonels, 25-23.
Sanks poured in 15 kills to lead all players, hitting a .250 efficiency, and added 13 digs. Cassie Knutson notched another double-double on the season with 19 assists and 13 digs while Maria Ferragonio also tallied 19 assists. Drost came up with a Colonel second-best 13 kills and Chloe Rojas led EKU with 16 digs.
The squads took turns throwing punches to open the first frame until the Golden Eagles took advantage of two EKU errors and came up with two points of their own to take the first multiple point lead of the match, 13-9. Sanks then came up with a putaway to spark a 4-0 Colonel run to even the score, 13-13. The teams saw the score tie eight more times until freshman Lauren Kolenik found back-to-back kills to end the set, 25-22.
The second stanza seemed to be a copy of the first, going point-for-point until the Colonels grabbed the largest lead of the set off of a Cassie Knutson kill, 21-17. TTU attempted to chip away at the lead but Eastern was able to remain in front, again closing the set with the point from Kolenik, 25-22.
EKU moves to 12-16 (10-4 Ohio Valley Conference) while Tennessee Tech is 3-23 (1-13 OVC).
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, MOREHEAD STATE 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Recap coming soon.