Volleyball Recaps - October 1

Volleyball Recaps - October 1

FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Southeast Missouri 3, Belmont 0
(25-20, 25-19, 25-19)
@Morehead State 3, Murray State 0 (28-26, 25-18, 25-21, 25-21)
@UT Martin 3, Eastern Illinois 1 (25-15, 19-25, 25-18, 25-13)
@Austin Peay 3, SIUE 0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-21)
@Tennessee Tech 3, Tennessee State 1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-22, 25-20)
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, BELMONT 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo
. -  Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (11-5, 2-2 OVC) swept Belmont (4-10, 2-2 OVC), 25-20, 25-19, 25-19, Friday night at Houck Field House in its Ohio Valley Conference series opener with the Bruins.
 
SEMO halted its losing streak at two matches with its fifth 3-0 sweep in 2021 and first in league play.
 
Laney Malloy led the Redhawks offensively, notching 18 kills on a .375 pace with five digs. Zoey Beasley added 14 kills on a .300 clip while Colby Greene had seven and Mackenzie Meehan chipped in a career-best six.
 
Talia Gouard registered five kills on a stellar .400 hitting percentage.
 
SEMO opened the match with a 5-2 lead in the first set after kills from Meehan, Malloy and Greene coupled with a Tara Beilsmith service ace.
 
The Redhawks extended their advantage to 15-12 after rally stoppers from the trio of attackers plus a Bruins attack error.
 
Beasley then slammed a kill before back-to-back Redhawks blocks widen the gap to 20-14.
 
Beasley added another winner before a service ace from Claire Ochs to make the score, 22-16.
 
Meehan then connected on a kill before a Belmont error brought on set point at 24-19. Malloy claimed the opening set with a kill, 25-20.
 
Malloy had five kills in the first frame while Greene chipped in four on a .364 and Meehan had three on a .750.
 
SEMO hit at a rate of .306 in the first set before a match-high .375 in the second stanza.
 
The second set was a race to 15 with both teams knotted at 11-11, 12-12 and 13-13 early. The set featured 11 ties to go along with three lead changes.
 
Trailing 13-12, SEMO went on a 6-0 run to pull ahead 18-13. Kayla Closset, Gouard and Malloy (2) each had kills during the sequence.
 
The Redhawks then registered four-straight points to complete the 10-1 rally after a kill from Mary Catherine Ball to increase the margin to 22-14.
 
Gouard tallied a kill before a 3-0 run from the Bruins cut the lead to 23-19.
 
Beasley then closed out the set with consecutive kills. She had seven kills during the frame on a .439 hitting clip.
 
Gouard was perfect on all four of her swings in the second set and Malloy finished the frame with six.
 
The third set was tight from the beginning with the two squads tied at 8-8 after a kill from Malloy.
 
Taylor Floyd hit a kill to even set #3 at 13-13 before rally stoppers by Malloy and Greene provided SEMO a slight 15-13 edge at the media timeout.
 
Malloy then hit a pair of kills to bookend a Bruins error for an 18-14 advantage. The senior from Roselle, Illinois, knocked seven rally stoppers during the set.
 
Floyd would add another kill to cut the deficit to three before a 4-0 rally from the Redhawks (22-15).
 
Ochs then hit two of her three kills on the night to make the scoreboard read 23-16. Ally Dion recorded both assists, setting up the senior setter from Chesterfield, Missouri.
 
The Bruins continued to fight and clawed within 23-19 after kills by Laura Shoopman and Lauren Walsh (2).
 
Beasley tallied a kill before a Belmont error to claim the sweep for the Redhawks.
 
SEMO hit its third-highest hitting clip of the season Friday, finishing with a .311.
 
Ochs dished out 41 assists with 12 digs, three kills and three aces.
 
Dion led the Redhawks defensively, grabbing 15 digs. Beilsmith finished with 10 and a pair of assists. Closset accumulated six digs.
 
SEMO outscored the Bruins, 61-40, and led in kills 54-35.
 
The Redhawks had four aces compared to one for Belmont.
 
The Bruins had one more block, taking the category, 4-3.
 
Shoopman led Belmont with 11 kills and seven digs. Izzy Schauer posted 32 assists and Rachel McBride scooped up 14 digs.
 
SEMO closes the two-match series with the Bruins Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m., CT at Houck Field House.

MOREHEAD STATE 3, MURRAY STATE 0
MOREHEAD, Ky.
-  Propelled by an inspired defensive effort, Morehead State volleyball swept Murray State 3-0 at Johnson Arena Friday night.

The Eagles improved to 5-9 overall and 1-2 in the league, slowing down the Racers to 8-5 and 2-1 in the OVC.

Morehead State and Murray State played what seemed to be a never-ending set in the opening frame with the home team finally winning 38-36 in the highest scoring single set in program history. The Eagles used that momentum to take the next two sets, 25-18 and 25-21 to win their third consecutive match - all in Morehead - over the Racers.

Junior libero Allison Whitten had another historic-production tonight, recording 40 digs. Her effort was just the third 40-dig match in program history, trailing only the school record of 49 by Dayle Hamontree in 1989 and 42 by Heather Willis in 1993. Whitten's output was just the fifth 40-dig match in Division I this fall and the third highest dig total for a three-set match among all D1 players in 2021, as Murray State's libero Becca Fernandez had her own incredible personal feat with 41 digs tonight.

As a team, the Eagles also out-dug the league's top digging team in Murray State, 102-91. The 102 scoops were the most since a 100-dig night against SIU Edwardsville in 2012.

At the net, the Eagles were just as stout. Redshirt freshman middle McKenzee Wagener turned back a career-high nine Racer attacks, with three solo rejections. Freshman Irene Wogenstahl was a part of a career-high six blocks, while sophomore outside hitter Abby Hulsman tied her career-best with four blocks. Morehead State easily had its best blocking night of the year with 14.

Not to be outshined, the Eagle offense produced 57 kills, including a team-high 15 from Hulsman. Grad student Olivia Lohmeier hammered down 14, and Wogenstahl was successful on 13 swings.

Part of the offense and defense, sophomore setter Bridget Bessler came up with her third straight double-double (47 assists, 11 digs) and sixth this season.

The league's top attacker in terms of kills per set, Murray's Brooke Lynn Watts, pounded in a match-best 16 spikes on 68 swings.

2018 and 2020 OVC Defensive Player of the Year, Becca Fernandez, broke Murray State's single-match (3-set) dig record, picking up a career-high 41 digs in the loss. 

The teams put a wrap on the OVC weekend with a battle at 11 a.m. ET Saturday.

UT MARTIN 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
MARTIN, Tenn.
- Eastern Illinois volleyball drops its first match this weekend against the Skyhawks of UT Martin by a score of 1-3. The set scores of the match were: 14-25, 25-19, 18-25, 13-25. EIU moves to 0-3 in the conference.

EIU started off the first set close with a score a 7-10. UT Martin would go on a 6-0 run to jump their lead to 16-7 and would close the set with a score of 14-25. The Panthers scored nine of their points off of kills with three of them each coming from Ella Collins and Kameryn Sillmon. Sillmon was three for five in the set with a .400 hitting percentage. UT Martin was led by four different Skyhawks with three kills. Fourteen of their 25 points were on kills.

The Panthers would pick up their only set win in the second with a score of 25-19. Collins added six kills in the set on nine attempts, and Summerlyn Smith had 11 assists in the second. Through two sets, EIU had a .203 hitting percentage with 25 kills. Emily Wilcox ended the set with a kill set up by Smith. Karen Scanlon had three kills in the second for the Skyhawks.

UT Martin would close out the third set on a 4-0 run to win 18-25. The Panthers had it within three points at 18-21, but could not hold off UT Martin to close out the set. Collins racked up five kills in the set, and Smith added 11 more assists to her total. Scanlon had three more kills in the third, and posted a .444 hitting percentage through three sets.

The match concluded in the fourth with UT Martin holding off the Panthers by a score of 13-25. The Skyhawks started the set on a 15-2 run as the Panthers fell in four. Danielle Allen recorded one kill and four digs in the final set. Scanlon had six kills for UT Martin, and Audrey Haworth collected four of her own.

UT Martin was led by Scanlon with 15 kills, Logan Wallick with eight kills, and Haeleigh Paulino with 22 assists. The Skyhawks improve to 7-10 on the season.

Eastern was led by Collins with 15 kills, Sillmon with nine kills, Smith with 28 assists, and Christina Martinez Mundo with 16 digs. EIU drops to 7-6 on the season.

The Panthers return to action Saturday, Oct. 2 at 4 p.m. as they play their second match against UT Martin at Skyhawk Fieldhouse.

AUSTIN PEAY 3, SIUE 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.
-  In their first Ohio Valley Conference road trip of the 2021 season, SIUE volleyball fell in straight sets to the Austin Peay Governors on Friday night (17-25, 16-25, 21-25).

The Cougars started off strong, building a 5-1 lead to begin the opening set and not surrendering the lead through the media timeout. Following the stoppage, the Governors caught lightning and stormed ahead thanks to a 10-0 scoring run. During that run, Governors outside Brooke Moore registered eight kills and finished the set with three additional kills. Moore totaled 21 kills on 47 attempts with just two errors, good for a .422 hitting percentage. The second set saw a back-and-forth affair for the bulk of the game, but another late scoring run doomed the Cougars' outstanding offensive efforts and handed the hosts a second-set win. The third set ran in similar fashion to the second, with both squads trading blows; however, despite a late offensive outburst from Annie Ellis and the Cougars, the Governors' powerful front line proved too much for the Red & White to handle and APSU would claim the third set and win the match.

The Cougars were led individually led by Julia Treichel, who registered eight kills and 11 digs to nearly notch her seventh double-double of the season. Savannah Christian also registered eight kills on 14 attempts with no errors, good for an outstanding .571 hitting percentage. Sydney Hummert led the Cougars with nine kills. Alyse Drifka, who entered the match coming off a career-best 35 assists, notched 29 in Friday's contest. Grace Hurst, who donned the libero jersey against the Governors, led SIUE with 15 digs.

Brooke Moore lead Austin Peay with 22 kills while Jessica Lary had a team-high 15 digsl. Caroline While had a double-double with 17 assists and 12 digs. 

SIUE, who drops to 3-11 and 0-3 in OVC play, will close out their time in Clarksville tomorrow morning, as the Cougars will face off against the Governors at 11 a.m.

TENNESSEE TECH 3, TENNESSEE STATE 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn.
-  Recap coming soon.