FRIDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 3, @Belmont 0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-18)
@Austin Peay 3, Eastern Illinois 1 (25-18, 25-21, 20-25, 25-22)
@Murray State 3, SIUE 1 (27-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-19)
Morehead State 3, @Tennessee State 1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19)
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, BELMONT 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Eastern Kentucky University volleyball team defeated Belmont University in straight sets Friday night in Nashville.
The Colonels won 25-21, 25-23 and 25-18.
Abby Noll led the way offensively for the Colonels posting a double-double with a match-best 18 kills and 13 digs. Rachel Woody chipped in a double-double of her own with 30 assists and 11 digs. Eastern had 12 blocks and forced Belmont into a .054 hitting percentage on the night.
Belmont got off to a quick start in the opening set taking a 5-2 lead after the kill by Mary Catherine Ball. The Colonels answered back though with a 6-2 run of their own to take the 8-7 lead after the kill by Mikayla Logan. The two teams would trade points and Eastern had a 16-15 lead in the opening set, that is when Eastern went on a 4-0 run sparked by Noll to take a 20-15 lead. The Bruins did not go down without a fight though and used a 4-0 run to cut the Colonel lead to 23-21. However, Noll ended the set with back-to-back kills to take the opening set 25-21.
In set two, Belmont again got off to a quick start and jumped out to an early 4-1 lead over the Colonels. EKU answered back with a 3-0 run after a pair of kills by Katelynn Caserma-Kloeble to tie the second set at 4-4. The two teams would trade points again until the Bruins used a 3-0 run to take a 14-10 lead and force a Colonel timeout. Out of the timeout, Eastern used a 5-1 run capped off by back-to-back kills by Noll to tie the set at 15-15. The Bruins took a 23-21 lead late in the set, but Eastern flexed its muscles scoring the last four points of the set to take a 2-0 lead over Belmont.
Eastern scored the first eight points of set three and never looked back. The Colonels never trailed and led by as many as 10 points in the set. Eastern scored the last two points of the set to win the set 25-18 and complete the sweep.
Catherine Ball led the way for the Bruins posting a team-best 12 kills and seven digs on the night.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Outside hitter Chloe Stitt led all hitters with 14 kills and Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team outlasted Eastern Illinois to win a four-set (25-18, 25-21, 20-25, 25-22) Ohio Valley Conference decision, Friday night, at the Dunn Center.
Austin Peay (8-17, 6-5 OVC) had difficulty getting separation from Eastern Illinois throughout the match. In the opening frame the Govs built a lead with a 6-0 run only to watch EIU nearly erase the advantage by scoring eight of the next 10 points. However, the Govs held off the Panthers to pick up the win.
Eastern Illinois (2-21, 1-10 OVC) held the early edge in the second, building a 12-10 advantage. But the Govs closed the second by outscoring the Panthers 15-9 the rest of the way to win the second and take a 2-0 lead. The Panthers shook off the loss and used six service aces in the third to keep the Govs off balance. Still the Govs rallied to tie the set at 16-16, but a 3-0 EIU run killed the Govs momentum and the Panthers edged away for the 25-20 victory.
The Govs rebounded in the fourth set as Stitt and outside hitter Jenna Panning combined for six kills in the frame. Austin Peay would break a 14-14 tie with four-straight points then fended off an Eastern Illinois run that tied the set at 21-21. Panning and middle blocker Karli Graham would record a block to give APSU a 23-21 lead and Panning finished the match with a kill.
Stitt’s 14 kills off the bench saw her post a .286 attack percentage. Panning finished with 12 kills and a .296 attack percentage. Graham had a team-best four blocks along with seven kills in the win.
Katie Sommer led EIU with 10 kills, posting a .300 attack percentage, along with two service aces and three blocks. The Panthers recorded 13 service aces in the contest, helping keep the match close.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Looking to complete a season sweep of Tennessee State, Morehead State volleyball used a season-best attack to down Tennessee State Friday night. The Eagles (18-6, 9-2 OVC) used 73 team kills—one shy of their season-high—to defeat the Tigers (9-15, 2-9) by scores of 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19.
Averaging a season-best 18.25 kills per set, Morehead State tallied three attackers in double-figures, each collecting 17 or more terminations on the night. Junior outside hitter Olivia Lohmeier led the way with a match-high 20 kills while fellow junior outside hitter Lauren Rokey and sophomore middle blocker Mia Swearingen added 18 and 17 kills apiece.
Offensively, the Eagles finished the match hitting .240, collecting 73 kills on 175 swings. Swearingen led Morehead State by connecting at a .324 clip. As a team, the Eagles tallied 69 team assists with freshman setter Bridget Bessler passing out 58 helpers.
Roaming the backline, sophomore libero Allison Whitten and sophomore defensive specialist Olivia Montelisciani anchored the Morehead State defense, scooping up 19 and 15 balls apiece. As a team, the Eagles recorded 74 digs on the night, averaging 18.5 digs per set. Morehead State nearly had three other players register double-digit digs as Lohmeier, redshirt senior Danielle McCarson, and redshirt junior Liz Allen collected nine, nine, and eight digs apiece.
At the net, Morehead State collected five team total blocks paced by four total blocks apiece from Rokey and Swearingen. Adding the team's final block assist, Lohmeier teamed with Swearingen to deter Tennessee State's final attack, sealing the match.
In service, the Eagles landed five service aces, recording at least five aces in each of the last four matches. Bessler, Lohmeier, McCarson, Montelisciani, and redshirt sophomore Taylor Hodges each collected an ace.
Tennessee State was led by Aniya Williams with 14 kills while Julia Pierson had 11 kills. Gina Rivera Ortiz paced the team with 13 digs.
MURRAY STATE 3, SIUE 1
MURRAY, Ky. - Senior Rachel Giustino led the Racers to victory tonight over SIU Edwardsville in four sets with 28 kills to give her 1,606 kills for her career, setting a new program record. She is in the midst of her best season as a Racer as she now has 452 kills this season, second-most in the NCAA, and just 18 away from her career-high, set last year.
As for the rest of the Racers tonight, Katirah Johnson and Emily Matson contributed with seven and five kills, respectively, Callie Anderton dished out 43 assists, and Becca Fernandez anchored the Racer defense with 17 digs.
The Racers jumped out to a lead in the match as they won the first set 27-25, but it was not easy. With a 24-19 lead, MSU was not able to put the Cougars away as SIUE went on a 6-0 run to take a 25-24 lead. SIUE looked like they had won the set on the next point as an attack by Johnson went long, but after talking it over, the refs ruled there was a touch, which meant the Racers were still alive. After an error by SIUE gave the Racers set point once again, Alex Kaufmann delivered a serve that landed just inside the baseline for an ace to clinch the first set.
The second set was close early until an 11-4 run by the Racers put them up 15-9. SIUE would get as close as two at 21-19, but the Racers won four of the last five points in the set, culminating in a service ace by Courtney Swafford to win, 25-20.
SIUE went on an early run in the third set to take a 14-8 lead and never looked as the Racers could only get as close as four the rest of the way before the Cougars won, 25-18.
The Cougars looked determined to go the distance as they won the first four points of the fourth set and eventually took a 6-1 lead early. However, Murray State quickly climbed their way back into the set as they went on a 5-0 run, culminating with back-to-back aces by Fernandez, to take an 11-9 lead. SIUE would get back to within one at 17-16 but could not get any closer as the Racers went on a 7-1 run to get to match point at 24-17. After a couple of points by the Cougars, Courtney Radle clinched the match with a kill.
SIUE's Rachel McDonald led the team with 19 kills and 13 digs.