TUESDAY'S SCORES
Marshall 3,
@Morehead State 0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-14)
@Western Kentucky 3,
Tennessee State 0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-15)
@UNLV 3,
Eastern Kentucky 2 (25-23, 23-25, 27-29, 25-21, 15-11)
MARSHALL 3, MOREHEAD STATE 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Junior right-side hitter Jordan Jones led the team with seven kills and kept her season attack percentage well above .300, but the Morehead State volleyball team dropped a three-set contest (25-21, 25-22, 25-14) to visiting Marshall Tuesday at Wetherby Gym.
The Eagles (2-2) stayed within striking distance in the first two sets before the Thundering Herd (1-3) nailed 17 kills and pulled away in the finale.
A 15-11 Eagle lead in the opening set went by the wayside as the visitors used a 6-1 run, capped by a ball-handling error on MSU, to take a 17-16 lead they never relinquished. The second frame saw Marshall race to an 11-5 cushion, but a trio of Eagle points kept it close. Marshall pushed back ahead 13-8, but neither team was able to increase its advantage to more than three the rest of the way.
The Eagles led 7-6 in the final set after a kill by freshman Olivia Lohmeier, but the 'Herd scored 10 of the next 13 winners and also scored the final four points to seal their win.
Jones only had two errors, hitting .294, and now hits .333 for the season. Junior middle blocker Jessie Wachtman totaled five kills. Sophomore libero Danielle McCarson came up with 12 of Morehead State's 41 digs.
The Eagles travel to Williamsburg, Va., this weekend for the Colonial Classic. MSU faces Savannah State (3 p.m. ET) and host William & Mary (7 p.m.) Friday and Davidson at 3 p.m. Saturday.
WESTERN KENTUCKY 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Tennessee State volleyball team fell to nationally ranked Western Kentucky 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-15) Tuesday evening in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The loss is the third for TSU this season.
The Lady Hilltoppers which are ranked number 24 nationally, ceased control of play early in set one, and maintained the upper-hand throughout the match.
The loss against WKU leaves the Tigers 1-3 going into the weekend where they host the first-ever tournament in Kean Hall.
Setter Samantha Beltran set up her teammates with 15 assists on the night. Rachel Henderson's eight kills led the way for the Tigers. Four of her kills came in the opening set. Julia Pierson added two block assists on defense for the Tigers.
First Set: After a back-and-forth start to the match, Western Kentucky seized control of the first set with a 8-0 run. The stretch turned TSU’s five-point deficit to a 12-point hole at 17-5. The Tigers continued to battle but could not overcome WKU’s .471 hitting percentage in the set, falling by a 25-12 score in the set.
Second Set: The Tigers looked to come back in the second set and kept up with the Toppers due to significant contributions from our outside hitter Rachel Henderson who had three kills. Tennessee State couldn’t combat the nine kills by WKU’s outside hitter Alyssa Cavanaugh , falling 25-15 in the second set.
Third Set: The third set was riddled with service errors (10). TSU and WKU couldn’t seem to get the ball over the net. The Tigers trailed the entire third set letting the Lady Toppers go on a 6-0 run, eventually leading to the fall of the Tigers 25-15.
Tennessee State will host its very first tournament Sept. 1-2 in Kean Hall this weekend against Head Coach Donika Sutton’s alma mater Alcorn State, as well as Florida International and New Orleans.
UNLV 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 2
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Despite multiple rallies and fighting off many match points the Eastern Kentucky University volleyball team fell to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in five sets on Tuesday night at the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Rebels (3-1) won by scores of 25-23, 23-25, 27-29, 25-21 and 15-11.
Despite losing the first match by two, the Colonels (2-2) came back in the second match and fought their way to victory. After a battle of back-and-forth the score was tied at 19-19 until the Rebels committed a service error, breathing new life into the Colonels. Senior Celina Sanks then put a ball away to make it 21-19, Colonels. Freshman Lauren Kolenik and senior Nikki Drost would both get in on the action before Drost claimed the set with a thundering attack 25-23 to even the sets 1-1.
UNLV seemed to run away with the third set early on with the Colonels finding themselves in a 14-8 hole, until Cassie Knutson came up with a kill to spark a 9-3 run that ended with a kill from Rachel Woody to tie the game at 17-17. EKU fell behind again but went on to tie the set five more times (19-19, 24-24, 25-25, 26-26 and 27-27). An attack error from the Rebels gave the Colonels a 28-27 lead, giving Cassie Knutson what she needed to end the set, 27-25.
Two Colonels notched double-doubles on the night – Drost (19 kills and 14 digs) and Sanks (16 kills and 13 digs). Woody racked up 41 assists.
EKU topped UNLV in the digs section of the statistics sheet, 59 to 49.
Eastern Kentucky will gear up to head to Tucson, Arizona for the Cactus Classic this weekend where they will play two games on Friday and one game on Saturday.