SATURDAY'S SCORES
Jacksonville State 3, @Morehead State 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-18)
Tennessee Tech 3, @Eastern Kentucky 0 (28-26, 25-18, 25-22)
Tennessee State 3, @Eastern Illinois 1 (25-16, 26-20, 16-25, 25-11)
@UT Martin 3, Murray State 2 (19-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-22, 15-13)
@SIUE 3, Belmont 1 (25-23, 25-18, 26-28, 25-21)
SIUE 3, BELMONT 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball picked up their eighth Ohio Valley Conference win by defeating Belmont 25-23, 25-18, 26-28, 25-21.
The Cougars improved to 13-12 overall with an 8-5 record in OVC play.
Hope Everett sparked the Cougar offense with 17 kills and a .667 hitting percentage. The Cougar sophomore hit .459 for the week.
Everett contributed 17 of the Cougars overall 57 kills. Others contributing include Rachel McDonald with 10 and Kiana Fields with eight.
McDonald also notched a double-double on the afternoon. In addition to her 10 kills, she also recorded 19 digs.
The team tallied 73 digs in the four-set match up. McDonald and Jordyn Klein both led the team defensively with 19 digs each. Dylynn Otte also contributed with 14 digs of her own.
SIUE recorded seven blocks on the afternoon. Junior Annie Ellis was the driving force behind the Cougars defensive efforts by assisting four blocks.
Halee Van Poppel led the Bruins with 17 kills and 13 digs. Lauren Walsh also had a double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Tennessee State volleyball traveled to Eastern Illinois for a match on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. in Lantz Arena. The match went four sets and the Tigers won 3-1 (25-15, 25-20, 16-25, 25-11).
TSU was strong overall this match with a hitting percentage of .345, 53 digs and 8 blocks. Aniya Williams recorded 13 kills for a .611 hitting percent, four blocks and two aces. Gina Rivera-Ortiz surpassed a huge milestone of 1,000 career digs by recording 14 digs. Big Blue came out with claws in the first two sets, gaining early leads. EIU fought back and during the third set it took the lead and did not give it up. But, Tennessee State came back even tougher in the fourth and squashed the competition's attempts to win the match.
Eastern Illinois was led by Maggie Runge and Morgan Matusik with 11 kills each. Laurel Bailey and Sarah Paluch each had 10 digs to pace the Panthers.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, MOREHEAD STATE 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - In a battle between two of the top teams in the Ohio Valley Conference, the Jacksonville State volleyball team stunned conference-leading Morehead State in a 3-0 road sweep on Saturday.
The last five meetings between the two schools all went five sets, but on Saturday, JSU (17-9, 11-3 OVC) took straight sets 25-19, 25-22 and 25-18 inside MSU's Johnson Arena. It was just the second loss in 15 home matches for the Eagles (20-7, 11-3 OVC) this season behind West Virginia's 3-1 win on Oct. 15.
The win pulls JSU even with MSU, who JSU swept the season series from, and Southeast Missouri for a share of the OVC lead heading into the final weekend of the regular season. If all win out, SEMO would host the league's postseason tournament by way of its wins over JSU and MSU. None the less, Jax State controls its own destiny to earn its first OVC regular season title since 2009.
The dominating win was the first time the Eagles have been swept on their home court in 14 months since Wright State took a 3-0 victory on Sept. 1, 2018. Junior Kaylie Milton had a team-high 10 kills as the only Gamecock in double figures with JSU using a balanced attack. Sadie Anderson added seven kills, followed by six from Kaylee Frear and Lena Kindermann, and five more for Shayla Schmidt. Junior Lexie Libs finished with just 25 assists as the Gamecocks needed just 35 total kills to finish things off.
On defense, Schmidt, Milton and Frear led the way as tallied nine team blocks. Freshman Erin Carmichael led the way with 13 digs. All nine Gamecocks to play recorded digs, with Dani Steele and Maddie Cloutier continuing to be fixtures in the back row.
A 9-3 start for JSU in the first set would signal early how the day would progress. MSU brought it back to one at 11-10, but JSU used a 5-1 run to rebuild its lead and go on to a 25-19 victory. The second set was the closest of the day after MSU led 10-5 and then 13-8. After Frear and Milton tied the frame at 15-all, a MSU error gave JSU its first lead. Tied at 19-19, Anderson, Schmidt and Kindermann put down consecutive kills to spark JSU to a 25-22 win.
In the third, the Gamecocks wasted no time and a service ace from Steele made it 10-3 early. The Eagles climbed back with five twice at 18-13 and 23-18, but JSU took the final two points to solidify the statement road sweep.
Olivia Lohmeier led the Eagles with 13 kills while Lauren Rokey added 11. Bridget Bessler dished out 36 assist while Allison Whitten had a team-high 15 digs.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
RICHMOND, Ky. - Tennessee Tech completed the season sweep over Eastern Kentucky on Saturday as the Golden Eagles earned a straight-set victory, 3-0 (28-26, 25-18, 25-22), over the Colonels at McBrayer Arena.
The Golden Eagles improve to 11-16 overall and 7-7 in OVC play, while Eastern Kentucky falls to 9-19 on the season and 4-10 in league play.
Three Golden Eagles tallied double-digit kills in the contest with junior Ali Verzani leading the charge with 15. Sophomore Taylor Dorsey and senior Rachel Thomas joined Verzani with 13 kills and 11 kills, respectively. Verzani also tied for the match-high in digs with 13, marking her 15th double-double of the season and tying fellow teammate senior Abigail Duncan and a pair of Colonels. Sophomore Ashley Hand helped the Golden Eagles to an impressive .310 hitting clip as a team, dishing out 41 assists. Hand surpassed the 1,000-career assist mark in the contest. Taylor Dorsey picked up a match-high three blocks in the win.
The Golden Eagles opened the contest on a 3-1 run and held a two-point advantage until the Colonels evened things at five. The set remained even through a 9-9 tie, before the Golden Eagles tallied three-straight to lead 12-9. The Colonels would respond on a 4-1 run to tie the set back up at 13. Following a 23-23 tie, the Colonels held the first set-point at 24-23, but the Golden Eagles responded to make it 25-24, before the Colonels would collect a pair of their own to once again hold set-point, 26-25. The Golden Eagles locked-in as a pair of kills from Thomas and a Colonel attack error would close out the set and give Tech the 1-0 lead, 28-26.
Tech opened the second set on fire as the Golden Eagles went on an 8-0 run to take the early lead. Eastern Kentucky battled back to close the game back within three on a 12-7 run, 15-12. However, that was as close as the set would come as the Golden Eagles closed the set on a 10-6 run to take the 25-18 win and hold the two-set advantage, 2-0.
The Colonels opened the third with the lead taking a 4-1 advantage. The Golden Eagles would respond with a 7-3 run to take the lead 8-7, but Eastern Kentucky would even things at eight. The set remained even through 11 until a 3-0 Tech run would put the Golden Eagles up 14-11. Tech continued to hold a one-point advantage through 22-21, before a 3-1 Tech run would close out the match and seal Tech's sweep, 25-22.
Abby Noll paced the Colonel offense with a match-high 19 kills and nine digs. Senior Katelynn Caserma-Kloeble posted 10 kills. Fellow senior Rachel Woody posted a double-double with 39 assists and 13 digs.
UT MARTIN 3, MURRAY STATE 2
MARTIN, Tenn. - The Murray State volleyball team fought hard against UT Martin, Saturday afternoon but ultimately fell in five sets to the Skyhawks.
The Racers fall to 16-10 and 10-4 in the OVC while UT Martin improves to 11-18 and 7-7 in conference play.
Rachel Giustino led the team with 25 kills followed by 12 kills each from Emily Matson and Rachel Holthaus. Ashley McBee dished out 41 assists while Becca Fernandez anchored the defense with 29 digs, including the 1,500th of her career.
An early 5-0 run by the Racers in the first set gave them an 11-6 lead. MSU controlled the rest of the set as the Skyhawks only got as close as two before the Racers won the set, 25-19.
The second went back and forth until, with the score tied at 17, the Skyhawks won three straight points to take a 20-17 lead. A UT Martin service error followed by a service ace from Holthaus got the Racers back within one, but that was as close as they got before dropping the set, 25-22.
With the score tied at three in the third set, the Racers went on a 10-2 run highlighted by two Alex Kaufmann service aces and three kills by Holthaus to give Murray State a 13-5 lead. The lead proved to be just big enough as the Racers did not win another point on their serve the rest of the set allowing Skyhawks to cut the Racer lead to 24-23. However, the Racers held on to win the set as the next rally resulted in an error by the Skyhawks.
UT Martin won the first four points, but the Racers quickly responded with a 5-1 run to tie the set. However, that turned out to be the last tie of the set as the Skyhawks won the next two points and were able to hold off the Racers the rest of the way, eventually winning the set, 25-22.
The Racers fell behind early in the fifth set but a 6-0 run gave Murray State an 11-7 lead. After a timeout, the Skyhawks rebounded by winning five of the next six points to tie the set at 12. A kill by Giustino gave the Racers a 13-12 lead, but that turned out to be the last point MSU would win as the UT Martin won the next three points to win 15-13.
Logan Wallick led the Skyhawks with 19 kills. Hannah Phillips had 11 kills and at team-best 21 digs. Kenzie Hinshaw also notched a double-double with 48 assist and 17 digs.