SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 3, UT Martin 0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-20)
Austin Peay 3, @Tennessee State 0 (25-21, 28-26, 25-18)
@Murray State 3, Tennessee Tech 1 (24-26, 25-16, 25-22, 25-16)
@Belmont 3, Eastern Illinois 1 (25-22, 17-25, 25-20, 25-22)
@Southeast Missouri 3, SIUE 0 (25-12, 25-17, 26-24)
MOREHEAD STATE 3, UT MARTIN 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - On the strength of 12 blocks, Morehead State volleyball secured its second straight three-set sweep over visiting UT Martin Saturday.
The Eagles won 25-17, 25-18, 25-20 as they improved to 11-9 overall with their seventh consecutive victory. MSU also moved to 7-2 in the league after dropping its opening two matches at Austin Peay. Morehead State has now won five straight against UTM and 21 of the last 24 in the series since 2005.
Freshman McKenzee Wagener turned back seven UTM swings, while sophomore Irene Wogenstahl registered five blocks. Freshman Maycie Welborn also had four blocks. That defensive effort, along with a 44-43 digs advantage, allowed the Eagles to limit the Skyhawks to only a .056 hitting percentage.
On offense, no Eagles reached double-figure kills, but grad student Olivia Lohmeier had nine on a .320 attack efficiency. Welborn hit .353 from the right side with seven kills, and sophomore Abby Hulsman also landed seven spikes.
Junior libero Allison Whitten anchored the back row again with a match-high 16 digs, while fellow back row mate Andrea Grimes aced the Skyhawks three times on serves.
The Skyhawks were guided defensively today by Kayla Carrell (10 digs) and Olivia Saunders (five blocks). Karen Scanlon slammed down a team-high six kills to go along with nine digs while Haeleigh Paulino posted a team-best 10 assists and seven digs. Dylan Mott also scooped up eight digs for UT Martin.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, TENNESEE STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Austin Peay State University's volleyball team completed a clean sweep of Ohio Valley Conference rival Tennessee State (25-21, 28-26, 25-18), Saturday, at Kean Hall to remain atop the standings at the midway point of the conference schedule.
Junior Mikayla Powell led the Governors (15-7, 8-1) with 14 kills against the Tigers (9-10, 1-9) in her fifth-straight match with double-digit kills. The Raymore, Missouri native also led the team with a .387 attack percentage.
Austin Peay's conference-leading offense posted a .279 hitting percentage against the Tigers and held Tennessee State to a .176 mark. It is the ninth time this season that the Govs have held their opponent to a .180 mark or below.
With her start against TSU, graduate student Brooke Moore continued her record-breaking weekend, passing Stephanie Garrard (1990-93) for most sets played in a career.
Moore's 18 kills throughout the series put the Louisville, Kentucky native 16 behind Becky Sowinski (1999-00) for third all-time in kills and is now just 69 kills from passing Sarah Schramka's (2001-04) program-record of 1,530.
Maggie Keenan led the way with five kills in a first set that saw the Govs post a .375 hitting percentage and hold Tennessee State to a .211 mark.
Aleksandra led the Tigers with 11 kills while Sofia Garcia Guerrios notched a double-double with team-highs of 21 assists and 17 digs
The Govs led 23-20 late in a back-and-forth second set, but thee-straight TSU points knotted the score for the 14th time. A Kaylah Jackson kill brought up a set-point, but the Tigers rallied with a pair of points to take the 25-24 advantage. After exchanging kills, Jaida Clark tied the teams at 26 and Moore fired the set-winning kills as the Govs extended their lead.
Austin Peay won the final set in convincing fashion, finishing on a 6-1 and completing the clean sweep with a 25-18 third-set victory
MURRAY STATE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
MURRAY, KY. - A first-set victory just wasn't enough for the Tennessee Tech volleyball team Saturday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles (10-10, 5-4) fell on the road to Ohio Valley Conference rival Murray State (10-9, 4-5) by a final score of 3-1 (24-26, 25-16, 25-22, 25-16).
The purple and gold fought back-and-forth with the Racers in the opener, with both sides holding their own lead. The home squad looked at set point with a 24-23 advantage, but the Golden Eagles used their defense to flip the script. Tech turned in three straight blocks, with Skylar Boom and Morgan Gish teaming up for the final two to earn a 26-24 win.
Murray State answered in the second set, breaking away from a 9-8 lead and turning it into 15-9 advantage. The Racers kept the distance the remainder of the way pulling away for a 25-16 victory to even the match at 1-1.
The Racers edged out front slowly in the third set, taking as much as a 23-17 lead and looking well on their way to another win. Tech clawed back, however, taking the next two points before Murray made it a 24-19 advantage.
The Golden Eagles scored three straight, forcing a timeout by the home squad, but the Racers came out of the break and collected the final kill to take the set 25-22. In set four, it was Murray State breaking a tie towards the middle of action, a 9-9 stalemate, and pulling away. The Racers capped 3-1 victory by winning the set, 25-16.
Gish delivered her top showing in the purple and gold, racking up a career-high 14 kills with zero errors for a mind-blowing .636 attack percentage. She also tied her career-best mark of six block assists.
Boom also put forth a career effort, tying her personal and season-best total of eight total blocks as part of the team's 12 rejections. Adding 10 kills to the mix for the purple and gold was redshirt sophomore Madeline Furtado, collecting her first double-double with a career-high-tying 12 digs.
Murray State's Brooke Lynn Watts had a team-best 16 kills to go with eight digs. Becca Fernandez recorded 17 digs while Bailey DeMier had a double-double with 38 assists and 10 digs.
Libero McKenna Young led the Golden Eagles with 13 digs while Ashley Hand quarterbacked the offense with 36 assists and a pair of blocks. Middle blocker Taylor Dorsey recorded seven kills and four block assists.
BELMONT 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Belmont University won their third straight match on Saturday, taking down Eastern Illinois, 3-1, inside the Curb Event Center.
The Bruins won 25-22, 17-25, 25-20, and 25-22 to secure their fourth victory in the last five matches. Belmont (8-12, 6-4 OVC) is now 6-2 at home this season.
Lauren Walsh and Laura Shoopman were the offensive engines for the Bruins on Saturday, tallying 15 kills each. Both outside hitters made the most of their swings, with Shoopman hitting an outstanding .312 and Walsh hitting .267. The Bruins hit .219 as a team in the match, their highest mark over the last eight matches.
One of the main reasons for the stellar afternoon offensively was the play of Belmont's senior setter, Carly Mason. One night after recording 47 assists in a five-set thriller, Mason picked up 46 assists to guide the Bruin attack.
Sophomore libero Rachel McBride recorded 25 digs in the victory, her second-highest total of the season.
Belmont began the match much more sound than they did in Friday's nailbiter. The Bruins took the first set, 25-22, thanks to a monster performance from Shoopman, who picked up seven kills on ten swings to lead the home side to a 1-0 set advantage.
Eastern Illinois struck back in the second set with a 25-18 win, signaling that the Panthers were ready to make the match ugly the way they did in Friday's night thriller.
Thanks to some lineup adjustments that included the insertion of sophomore middle blocker Sydney Willis, the Bruins began to find success hindering the Panther attack with some emphatic blocks that allowed Belmont to pick up some momentum.
Willis finished with four block assists on her birthday, a big reason why the Bruins tallied 10.0 total team blocks.
Belmont took the third set, 25-20, and came back in the fourth set from down 15-10 and 19-17 to secure the match with a 25-22 set win.
EIU was led by TaKenya Stafford with 14 kills and 10 digs, Danielle Allen with 12 kills, Summerlyn Smith with 31 assists and Christina Martinez Mundo with 18 digs. They drop their eleventh straight match and go to 7-12 overall.
With the six conference wins, Belmont now has their most OVC wins since 2017.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, SIUE 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -
Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (17-5, 8-2 OVC) registered its seventh consecutive win in 2021 to clinch the series sweep of SIUE (5-15, 2-7 OVC) Saturday evening at Houck Field House. The Redhawks registered their 10th 3-0 sweep of the campaign, a 25-12, 25-17, 26-14 decision over the Cougars.
The sweep was the Redhawks sixth in Ohio Valley Conference competitions in 2021.
Talia Gouard (.471) and Zoey Beasley led SEMO offensively, with nine kills each. Laney Malloy chipped in seven rally stoppers with 10 digs and Colby Greene finished with six kills.
SEMO opened the match with a 5-1 lead. Greene added a pair of kills to make the edge, 7-3.
Malloy placed three straight aces to punctuate a 5-0 run to push the advantage to 13-5.
SEMO then compiled a 4-0 run to make the score 23-10. Greene and Gouard both had kills before a block assist by Gouard and Claire Ochs.
Gouard then belted a kill to claim the set, 25-12.
SEMO outhit the Cougars .267 to -.062 in the opening period. Gouard and Greene each had four kills in the set.
With a slight lead in the second frame, 13-10, SEMO utilized a 4-0 run to pull ahead 18-11. Malloy had three straight kills before teaming up with Gouard for a block assist.
Ochs then registered an ace after a Mackenzie Meehan and Greene block assist to bring on set point at 24-16.
Meehan then blasted the set winner to extend the SEMO lead to 2-0 with a 25-17 second set.
The Redhawks then came from behind in the third frame to capture the victory, 26-24.
SIUE jumped out to a 7-2 lead that increased to 16-11 after a kill by Julia Treichel.
A 4-0 Redhawks run then cut the Cougars edge to one, 16-15.
Savannah Christian then hit a kill to regrow the Cougars lead to 20-16.
Gouard knocked a pair of kills combined with two SIUE errors to even the set at 20-20.
Beasley then connected on a rally stopper before a block by Meehan and Ochs swapped the lead in favor of SEMO, 22-21.
A Cougars miscue brought on match point at 24-23. SIUE then retied the set at 24-24 on a SEMO error.
Greene and Malloy notched kills to claim the victory, 26-24.
Ochs dished out 30 assists with six digs, two kills and an ace.
Tara Beilsmith and Ally Dion led the SEMO defense with 13 digs each. Megan Harris added six digs.
Meehan paced the Redhawks with six blocks to go along with two digs and two kills. Beasley chipped in three blocks.
SEMO outscored SIUE, 48-32, and led the aces and blocks categories, 4-1, and 9-2, respectively.
Treichel led the Cougars with eight kills. Alyse Drifka passed out 16 assists and a match-high 16 digs.