FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Kentucky 3, Tennessee Tech 2 (26-28, 27-25, 25-16, 24-26, 15-7)
Austin Peay 3, @Southeast Missouir 0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-16)
@Morehead State 3, Jacksonville State 2 (16-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 17-15)
@UT Martin 3, Murray State 1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-18)
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, TENNESSEE TECH 2
RICHMOND, Ky. - Cassie Knutson logged her first triple-double of the season to aid the Eastern Kentucky University volleyball team in clipping Tennessee Tech in a five set thriller Friday night at McBrayer Arena.
Eastern won by scores of 26-28, 27-25, 25-16, 24-26 and 15-7.
EKU came out of the break hot to enter the third stanza. With the squads even at 10-10 a kill from freshman Lauren Kolenik sparked an 8-1 Colonel run that ended on a kill from Nikki Drost to push Eastern ahead 18-11. Errors plagued TTU, giving EKU its final seven points, sealing the set, 25-16.
After exchanging points for the entirety of the fourth set, a duo of K’Vonna Johnson kills, an attack error from EKU and another Tech kill pushed the Golden Eagles ahead 26-24.
The Colonels made quick work of Tennessee Tech in the final set, after hitting a clip of .391 and opening on a 5-0 run. TTU cut into the lead with a trio of kills, 5-3, but EKU answered with a trifecta of its own, 8-3. The Golden Eagles threw the first punches after the side switch, but the Colonels responded and again pushed the lead, 13-6. Celina Sanks came up big with a service ace to set match point, 14-6. Drost sealed off the match with a commanding kill, 15-7.
In the first set the teams went point-for-point until the Golden Eagles scored four unanswered to grab the largest lead of the stanza, 23-18. Back-to-back kills from Kaylin Johnson and Drost drew the Colonels within three, 23-20. A service error from EKU pushed the TTU lead back out to four, but a duo of kills from Knutson, another from Drost and an attack error evened the set at 24-24. Two more attack errors, one from each side of the net, and a kill from both sides knotted the score again, 26-26. Tech’s Taylor Houck then put two more balls down back-to-back to push the Golden Eagles ahead, 28-26.
The second set appeared to be a mirror image of the first with the teams knotted at 20 apiece, but two Colonel errors and a kill pushed the Golden Eagles ahead 23-20. Knutson then came up with a kill to drive EKU to four unanswered points, taking the lead 24-20. A Knutson service ace and a kill from Kolenik ended the set and evened the match 1-1.
TTU’s K’Vonna Johnson set the pace for all players with 18 kills while Susie Jeziorowski also led the carge with 43 assists.
Four Colonels notched double-digits in kills: Knutson (11), Kolenik (12), Sanks (14) and Drost (15). Knutson and Maria Ferragonio racked up 23 assists apiece. Chloe Rojas led all players with 25 digs, Drost (13), Sanks (12) and Knutson (11) followed closely behind.
Ciera Koons led the front line with four blocks.
EKU moves to 4-13, 2-1 in league action while Tennessee Tech drops to 2-13, 0-3 in the OVC.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team won its ninth-straight contest with a three-set sweep (25-23, 25-22, 25-16) of Southeast Missouri, Friday, in Ohio Valley Conference action at Houck Field House.
Austin Peay (15-2, 3-0 OVC) battled through two tough sets to begin the match, with 16 ties and seven lead changes in the two frames. The Govs fended off a Redhawks rally in the first, scoring four of the final five points to win 25-23. In the second frame, Southeast Missouri fought back to within a point, 23-22, but setter Kristen Stucker dumped in a pair of points to give the Govs a 2-0 lead.
Southeast Missouri (6-11, 1-2 OVC) could not recover from the 2-0 deficit. The Govs jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead in the third frame and extended the advantage to 11 points, 20-9. Southeast Missouri chipped away at the deficit down the stretch but Austin Peay eased to a 25-16 victory.
Senior Ashley Slay posted 14 kills to pace the Governors 48-kill offensive outing. Stucker supplied five kills along with 38 assists and eight digs in the win.
Krissa Gearring ended the night with 10 kills to lead Southeast Missouri.
MOREHHEAD STATE 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 2
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State climbed out of a 2-0 deficit to defeat Jacksonville State in five sets on Friday night at Wetherby Gym. The Eagles move to 10-6 (1-2 Ohio Valley Conference) on the season, while Jacksonville State drops to 14-7, 1-2 OVC.
Jacksonville State handily claimed the first set by a 25-16 margin, then held on for a 25-23 victory in the second. Morehead State stormed out of the break, however, stealing the momentum and never looking back.
The Eagles won the third set 25-22, then repeated the feat with a 25-21 victory in the fourth. The fifth set transpired in back-and-forth fashion, eventually leading to a 17-15 triumph by the home team with the crowd at its back.
Jordan Jones led Morehead State with 20 kills and 29 assists, surpassing the 1,000-assist mark on her career. Maddie Fella also reached a career milestone, passing 200 blocks as an Eagle. Lauren Rokey recorded 15 kills and 11 digs, while Olivia Lohmeier logged 14 kills with a team-high .393 hitting percentage.
Jacksonville State's Allyson Zuhlke recorded a team-high 19 kills while Charis Ludtke had 15. Hannah Kirk led the team with 20 digs. Jennifer Hart recorded a double-double with 40 assist and 16 digs. Kaylie Milton added 10 digs in the match.
UT MARTIN 3, MURRAY STATE 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - UT Martin defeated Murray State in four sets at home on Friday night. The Skyhawks improve to 9-7 overall and 3-0 in league play while the Racers fell to 10-5 overall and 2-1 in OVC action.
UT Martin's Jemima Idemudia recorded a double-double with team highs of 12 kills and 16 blocks. Justine Walker also reached double-digits in blocks with 10 to go with seven kills. Brookey Gyori led the team with 17 digs.
Rachel Giustino led MSU with 16 kill in the loss while Olivia Chatman and Megan Lindsay added 11 and 10, respectively. Lindsay hit a solid .471 in the loss. Callie Anderton recorded 33 assists from her setter position to lead the Racers while Courtney Radle had 12. In the back row, Alex Kaufmann led the way with 13 digs and Becca Fernandez chipped in with eight. Kaufmann also led the way with two aces on the night