FRIDAY'S SCORES
UT Martin 3, @Eastern Illinois 0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-21)
@Jacksonville State 3, Belmont 0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-21)
@SIUE 3, Southeast Missouri 0 (25-19, 31-29, 25-21)
@Tennessee Tech 3, Tennessee State 0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-11)
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, BELMONT 0
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Jacksonville State recorded its 12th sweep of the season with a straight-sets victory over Belmont Friday night to move the Gamecocks one win away from an Ohio Valley Conference championship.
Knowing what was on the line, JSU (18-9, 12-3 OVC) didn't allow a down Belmont (2-28, 1-15 OVC) squad play spoiler in the final weekend of the regular season. The Gamecocks now head into Saturday with an identical 12-3 league record as Morehead State, who JSU beat twice during the season to hold any tiebreaker advantage.
A win for Jax State on Saturday over Tennessee State will give the Gamecocks their first OVC title since 2009, and will guarantee the 2019 OVC Volleyball Tournament will take place at Pete Mathews Coliseum the following week.
Back to Friday, junior Kaylie Milton posted a team-best effort with 12 kills on 28 swings for a .250 clip. Junior Lexie Libs dished 35 assists in the quick win, evenly distributing the offense among her hitters. Senior Sadie Anderson and sophomore Lena Kindermann had nine kills each, followed by senior Shayla Schmidt with eight and senior Kaylee Frear with seven. Libs finished with a double-double along with 10 digs. Anderson led the way on the backrow with 11 ups, just ahead of freshman Erin Carmichael's nine. At the net, Kindermann and Schmidt each had a trio of blocks.
After a 4-0 lead to start the match, BU fought back to even the first set at 11-11. The Bruins played a tough match all night, but could never take the next step in moving ahead of the Gamecocks. Still tied at 16-16, Anderson's kill sparked a 5-0 run for JSU that opened the door for a 25-18 decision. In the second, Belmont found themselves in a similar position tied midway through the frame at 14-14. A kill by Milton and block for Anderson again pushed momentum back to JSU, but the Bruins trimmed the deficit back to one at 22-21, only to have late error give JSU a 2-0 match advantage.
JSU trailed in the third, 13-11, before reeling off four-straight to force a BU timeout. Out of the break, JSU turned up the pressure with kills from Frear and Kindermann. Belmont tried to climb back in it late, but JSU ended their chances with a 25-21 win.
For the match, junior Halee Van Poppel recorded 13 kills, followed by sophomore Mary Catherine Ball with 11. Sophomore Carly Mason tallied 17 assists, followed by senior Akia Warrior with 16. Sophomore Faith Cobaugh notched 11 digs. Freshman Kailee Bass finished with a match-high five block assists.
UT MARTIN 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The University of Tennessee at Martin volleyball program established a new high for Ohio Valley Conference victories under head coach Jaclynn Wilson this evening as the Skyhawks made short work of Eastern Illinois (25-23, 25-20, 25-21).
UT Martin (12-18, 8-7 OVC) rose above .500 in conference play for the first time this season, posting its seventh win in the last 10 OVC matches. Wilson’s previous high for OVC victories was seven, set last fall.
Logan Wallick and Gintare Mackeviciute put down 11 and 10 kills, respectively, to guide a Skyhawk offense that hit .226 thanks in large part to Kenzie Hinshaw’s match-high 29 assists. Defensively, Lucy Kaufman (nine digs), Kayla Long (eight digs) and Justine Walker (three blocks) paved the way for UT Martin.
The first set was even at 6-all before a Mackeviciute kill and a Hannah Phillips service ace ignited a 4-0 Skyhawk run. Moments later, another 4-0 UT Martin surge – this time capped off by kills from Phillips and Walker – made the score 17-9 in favor of the Skyhawks. The Panthers would make things interesting late, tying the score at 23-all but a Wallick kill and an Eastern Illinois attack error provided UT Martin with the 1-0 lead in the match.
The Skyhawks trailed by a 6-4 margin to open the second set but soon reclaimed control after an 11-4 run. Five different UT Martin players supplied kills during the run (Addison Conley, Mackeviciute, Karen Scanlon, Hinshaw, Wallick) which led to a 15-10 Skyhawk advantage. The Panthers would once again make a late push, narrowing UT Martin’s lead to a single point at 18-17 but the Skyhawks avoided Eastern Illinois’ momentum to score seven of the final 10 points.
Mackeviciute began the final set with two kills as UT Martin raced out to a 6-4 advantage. Scanlon later added back-to-back kills as the Skyhawks stretched their lead out to three points (12-9). The Panthers recovered to briefly take a one-point advantage before a block assist from Walker and Jessica Reynolds capped off a 6-1 UT Martin run. The Skyhawks clinched match point moments later when Wallick rose up for her match-best 11th kill of the night.
The Panthers were led by Maggie Runge with 11 kills and two blocks. Bailey Chandler led the team in assists with 29 and tacked on three kills. Laurel Bailey led the team in digs with 16 and had two kills.
SIUE 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Freshman libero Tara Beilsmith registered a career-best 33 digs but Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (19-10, 11-4 OVC) fell to SIUE (14-13, 9-6 OVC), 19-25, 29-31, 21-25, Friday evening at the First Community Arena at the Vadalabene Center.
Beilsmith posted her 14th career 20-plus dig outing Friday in the penultimate regular-season match on the Redhawks schedule. She now ranks fifth all-time in Southeast program history (25-point rally scoring era from 2008 to present) for digs in a season with 540 in 2019.
SIUE jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the match with a 25-19 opening set. The Cougars grew their lead to 13-6 after kills from Gabby Wimes and Rachel McDonald coupled with an ace from Mallory Nicholson.
A rally stopper from Wimes pushed the advantage to 23-13.
SEMO responded with three-straight points including a Mikayla Kuhlmann kill before a block assist by Annie Ellis and Hope Everett brought on set point, 24-16.
The Redhawks fended off set point three times to come as close as 24-19 before Dylynn Otte sealed the set with a kill.
In the second set, SEMO built a 12-8 lead after winners from Krista Berns and Kuhlmann.
The Cougars stormed back with a 5-0 run to take a slight 15-13 edge.
Ochs then connected with a kill for the 20-17 Redhawks lead. Kills from Laney Malloy and Kuhlmann sandwiched a block assist from Kuhlmann and Berns to extend the advantage to 23-18.
Kuhlmann added a kill for set point, 24-20, before a 5-0 rally by SIUE.
Kuhlmann delivered another kill followed by a block assist by Maggie Adams and Annie Wehrheim made the score, 26-25.
A kill from Berns then retied the frame at 29-29. The Cougars then benefited from a SEMO error and an ace from Otte to take the marathon second set, 31-29.
SIUE continued that momentum into the third set, starting with a 5-1 advantage.
Kills from Malloy and Berns chipped away at the early deficit, 9-7.
Kuhlmann then slammed a kill before a Berns ace to cut the lead to two, 18-16.
Trailing 22-18, SEMO posted a 3-0 run to pull within a point, 22-21. Adams, Berns and Wehrheim each had a kill during the rally.
The Cougars then answered with three straight kills of their own by Everett, Kiana Fields and Otte to earn the sweep.
Kuhlmann led the Redhawks offensively with nine kills while Berns and Adams each had six. Wehrheim finished with five and Malloy posted four.
Setter Claire Ochs dished out 28 assists with 13 digs for the double-double. Malloy added eight digs for a new career-best in a season of 308. Emily Boggetto tallied seven digs.
Ellis had a match-high 11 kills and Everett finished with 10.
Southeast was out blocked, 12-7, and had two aces compared to SIUE's five.
Adams paced SEMO with five blocks and now has a career-best 109.0 total blocks (93 block assists and 16 solo) in 2019. She also now has 200 career block assists as a Redhawk.
Kuhlmann concluded the match with four blocks. Berns had two for a career-high 91.0 total blocks this season.
With the loss, SIUE has swept the regular-season series with Southeast, 2-0.
Annie Ellis led the Cougars with 11 kills and a .429 hitting percentage. Hope Everett added 10 kills. Jordyn Klein notched a team-high 23 digs while Rachel McDonald added 22.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee Tech swept visting Tennessee State (25-13, 25-19, 25-11) on Friday night.
The Golden Eagles' Ali Verzani recorded a match-high 15 kills and a .433 hitting percentage. Ashley Hand registered a double-double with 30 assist and 13 digs while Carly Skrabak had a team-best 16 digs.
TSU's Aniya Williams led the team with 9 kills while Julie Pierson and Sofia Garcia-Guerrios each had a team-best 12 digs. Gacria-Guerrios added 20 assists for the double-double.