SATURDAY'S SCORES
Morehead State 3, @UT Martin 0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-22)
@Southeast Missouri 3, Eastern Kentucky 0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-13)
Jacksonville State 3, @Eastern Illinois 0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-18)
@Austin Peay 3, Belmont 0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-23)
Tennessee Tech 3, @SIUE 1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-22, 25-23)
@Murray State 3, Tennessee State 0 (25-12, 25-9, 25-16)
MOREHEAD STATE 3, UT MARTIN 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - Looking to rebound from a defeat Friday night, Morehead State volleyball countered Friday's result with a sweep of its own Saturday afternoon. The Eagles (15-6, 6-2 OVC) defeated UT Martin (7-15, 3-5) in straight sets by scores of 25-14, 25-15, and 25-22.
Collecting 43 kills on the afternoon, Morehead State fashioned a season-best .371 hitting percentage. The Eagles committed 10 errors in the match on 89 swings to craft their season-best hitting percentage. Morehead State also assisted on 41 of the team's 43 kills, exceeding a 90% assist percentage in each match this season.
Making her first start since Sep. 12, redshirt junior setter Chandler Clark dished out 39 assists to lead the Eagle offense. Saturday's match also marked the first match since the season opener in which Clark featured in all sets, finishing the match recording 13 assists per set. Her 39 assists on the afternoon give her 1,965 career assists, tying former Eagle setter Dana Allender for 10th on the program's career assists leaderboard.
For the fourth time this season, junior outside hitter Lauren Rokey paced all Morehead State attackers, tallying a match-high 15 kills. She finished the match committing just two errors on 26 swings, hitting .500 for the match. Rokey's match-best hitting percentage marked the third time this season she's connected at a .500 or better clip this season.
Finishing just shy of double-figure kills for the match were sophomore middle blocker Hannah Keating, junior outside hitter Olivia Lohmeier, and sophomore middle blocker Mia Swearingen who recorded, nine, nine, and eight kills, respectively. Lohmeier's nine kills snapped a 32-match streak of collecting 10 or more kills, a streak that dated back to last season.
Defensively, Morehead State collected 40 digs and eight total blocks, both match-best totals. Redshirt sophomore defensive specialist Taylor Hodges led the Eagle backline, scooping up a match-best 10 digs while sophomore libero Allison Whitten dug up nine balls. At the net, Swearingen led the way, deterring a match-high four shots.
UT Martin's Logan Wallick led the team with seven kills while Hannah Phillips and Lucy Kaufman had a team-high eight digs each.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri women's (14-8, 6-2 OVC) registered its second sweep of the weekend with a 25-22, 25-12, 25-13, victory over Eastern Kentucky (7-15, 2-6 OVC) Saturday afternoon at Houck Field House.
The win marked the first time Southeast had beat EKU in Cape Girardeau since Oct. 9, 2015 (3-1).
The Redhawks have now posted eight sweeps in 2019 including four in Ohio Valley Conference play.
Krista Berns paced the offense with nine kills (.467) and a service ace. Maggie Adams (.667) and Laney Malloy each had eight rally stoppers. Annie Wehrheim added seven (.333) and Mikayla Kuhlmann had six (.313).
Claire Ochs passed out 34 assists with eight digs and three service aces as the Redhawks hit a season-best .360 percentage.
SEMO opened the match with a .293 clip to claim the first set, 25-22. Berns knocked six of her nine kills in the frame.
The Redhawks took an early 10-9 lead after consecutive attack errors by the Colonels.
The first set featured nine ties and seven lead changes in the highly contested frame.
After tie score lines of 10-10, 12-12, 13-13, 14-14 and 15-15, Southeast distanced themselves from EKU with a 5-0 run, 21-19. Adams connected with a pair of kills during the rally and combined with Wehrheim for a block.
Wehrheim added a kill for a slight 22-20 SEMO advantage.
Malloy and Berns then chipped in two straight rally stoppers to take the set, 25-22.
The Redhawks utilized a 6-0 run to pull ahead 17-8 in the second set. Kuhlmann notched two kills in the rally and Ochs tallied three services aces.
Kuhlmann added another kill before SEMO pushed the advantage to 22-10 after four straight points.
Ochs called her own number with a kill from Malloy before a pair of bad sets concluded the frame, 25-12.
Malloy and Adams each had four kills in the second set as the Redhawks had a .345 hitting percentage.
Southeast continued to improve its hitting efficiency into the final set where they posted a match-high .467.
EKU took a 4-1 early lead in the set before SEMO took an 11-8 advantage after four straight points.
Abby Noll hit a kill before a 9-0 Redhawks run grew the lead to 20-9.
Adams, Wehrheim (3) and Berns each had kills in the rally. Tara Beilsmith also notched all three of her service aces during the run.
Malloy then knocked back-to-back kills before Elissa Moylan blasted a rally stopper to make the advantage, 23-11.
Eastern Kentucky came as close as 23-13 after kills from Jovana Bulatovic and Adria Hartley.
Moylan then hit her second kill of the match and Kuhlmann clinched the set with a rally stopper, 25-13.
Beilsmith led the defense with 19 digs. Ally Dion, the Southeast all-time career service aces leader (25-point rally scoring era from 2008 to present), had seven while Malloy chipped in six.
Southeast had nine service aces compared to EKU's two.
SEMO also out blocked the Colonels, 5-2, as Wehrheim, Adams and Kuhlmann each had three.
Noll posted a match-high 11 kills for Eastern Kentucky and Dena Tekavec had 14 digs defensively.
The Redhawks concluded their four-match homestand with a 3-1 mark as all three victories came on 3-0 sweeps. In its last 10 matches, Southeast is 8-2 with five sweeps.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, SIUE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Tennessee Tech volleyball bounced back against the SIUE Cougars, earning a 3-1 victory and ending their five-straight conference win streak on Saturday at the First Community Arena at the Vadalabene Center.
Junior Ali Verzani led the Golden Eagles offensively with 16 kills, while adding 10 digs to notch her 11th double-double of the season. Sophomore Taylor Dorsey joined Verzani with double-digit kills, tallying 11 in the contest, while sophomore Ashley Hand dished out a match-high 37 assists. Defensively, Dorsey earned a match-high seven blocks in the contest and freshman Carly Skrabak anchored the Golden Eagle’s back row as she recorded 14 digs against the Cougars.
The Cougars took the early advantage in the opening set, leading by as much as six, 14-8, and continued to lead until the Golden Eagles finally evened the set at 22. Tech would tally a pair of kills from Morgan Gish and Rachel Thomas and a service ace to outscore the Cougars 3-1 to take the 1-0 lead.
SIUE opened the second frame on a 14-7 run. The Cougars maintained their lead and eventually extended their lead to nine before closing out the set and evening up the match 1-1, 25-16.
Tech responded big in the third set as they scored six-unanswered points to take a 6-0 lead to open the set. Tech would eventually extend their lead to eight, 9-1, before SIU rallied to bring the set within three, 10-7. Tech kept the Cougars at bay to hold an 18-14 lead and continued to keep their distance as they eventually close the set 25-22 to take back the lead, 2-1.
The Golden Eagles kept the momentum into the fourth set as they took a 6-3 lead to open the frame. SIUE battled back to eventually even the set at nine. The Cougars would take a four-point lead and maintain it through 17-13. Tech locked in to eventually bring things even at 21 following a block assist from Dorsey and Verzani. The Golden Eagles continued to outscore the Cougars 4-2 to seal the set 25-23 and claim the 3-1 win.
Savannah Christian led the Cougars with 12 kills while Dylynn Otte notched a double-double with 10 kills and a match-high 23 digs.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, BELMONT 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Outside hitter Brooke Moore had a nearly unblemished day as Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team posted a three-set Ohio Valley Conference sweep (25-17, 25-15, 25-23) against Belmont, Saturday, at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (7-15, 5-3 OVC) dominated the first two sets, winning each in wire-to-wire fashion. The third set saw each team post big runs early, the Govs’ 7-0 run matched by Belmont’s 8-1 burst moments later. But Austin Peay closed the frame with a 15-9 run to secure the sweep and their second-straight victory.
Moore led all hitters with an 18-kill outing, finishing with just one error for a .607 attack percentage while also posting a team-best 12 digs. Chloe Stitt had 13 kills and four blocks.
Belmont (2-21, 1-7 OVC) finished with 35 kills, Halee Van Poppel leading the effort with 10 kills and a .381 attack percentage.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Jacksonville State volleyball team finished its four-match road stretch with a dominant 3-0 sweep of Eastern Illinois (25-20, 25-14, 25-17) on Saturday at Lantz Arena.
The Gamecocks (12-8, 6-2 Ohio Valley) snapped a four-match losing skid to EIU (1-7 OVC), and picked up its first road win in the series since 2011. At the midway point of the conference schedule, Jax State remains in a multi-team tie for first place.
JSU used a balanced attack to take down the Panthers in straight sets. Redshirt-junior Sadie Anderson led the way with a dozen kills, followed by sophomore Lena Kindermann and senior Kaylee Frear with nine and eight, respectively. Kindermann and Frear each hit .400 or above and added a pair of blocks. Junior Lexie Libs finished with 32 assists, while freshman Erin Carmichael upped 17 attacks.
The opening stanza was the closest of the day. Freshman Kylee Quigley added an early ace and the Gamecock led 11-6 forcing an EIU timeout. JSU was inching closer to a set one win when a few errors brought the Panthers back within three at 20-17, but JSU shut the door on any comeback with a 25-20 win. Leading 10-7 in the second, Jax State used a 10-1 run to pull away in the set. Senior Shayla Schmidt added an ace during the run as the Peoria, Ariz., native finished with a kill and three blocks. The Gamecocks proceeded to close out the frame, 25-14, and take a 2-0 match lead.
JSU left no doubt in the third racing out to a 7-1 advantage on its way to securing a 25-17 decision to complete the sweep. Over the past two weekends, JSU faced four road opponents and swept three of those contests.
The Panthers were led by Maggie Runge with eight kills and added five blocks. Bailey Chandler led the team in assists with 23.
MURRAY STATE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
MURRAY, Ky. - Murray State swept visiting Tennessee State (25-12, 25-9, 25-16) on Saturday. The Racers improve to 12-8 overall and 6-2 in the OVC while Tennessee State falls to 9-12 overall and 2-6 in the league.
The Racers' Rachel Holthaus recorded a match-high 17 kills to go with a .680 hitting percentge. Becca Fernandez led all players with 17 digs while Ashley McBee dished out 34 assists.
Tennessee State was led by Khalia Jordan with six kills while Gina Rivera Ortiz had a team-high 19 digs.