MONDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 3, UT Martin 0 (20-28, 25-20, 25-21)
@Southeast Missouri 3, Austin Peay 2 (25-14, 18-25, 25-17, 26-28, 15-12)
Eastern Illinois 3, @Murray State 1 (16-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-23)
@Jacksonville State 3, Eastern Kentucky 1 (25-18, 25-14, 25-23)
Tennessee Tech 3, @Tennessee State 0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-15)
SIUE 3, UT MARTIN 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball once again leaned on their seniors to deliver a victory, and that's exactly what they did - the Cougars took down the visiting Skyhawks in straight sets for the second consecutive match to earn the season series sweep.
Jordyn Klein paced the Cougars at the libero spot, notching 33 digs and a pair of assists on the day. Fellow senior Rachel McDonald hit for an outstanding .412 clip, recording a match-high 17 kills and falling just one dig shy of earning a double-double. Savannah Christian registered nine kills and five total blocks, Hope Everett collected seven kills, while Annie Ellis put together six. Sarah Armendariz once again led all players with an impressive 38 assists. Senior Gabby Wimes recorded her first solo block of the Spring 2021 campaign to secure the Cougar win.
Logan Wallick keyed UT Martin with 13 kills today while the Skyhawks also received heavy contributions out of Jessica Reynolds (nine kills), Karen Scanlon (eight kills on a team-best .312 attack percentage) and Addy Vaughn (career-high seven kills). Kenzie Hinshaw handed out 34 assists for UT Martin, who falls to 5-7 on the season. For the second consecutive day, libero Dylan Mott shined as the freshman out of Hendersonville, Tenn. scooped up a team-high 21 digs. Vaughn pitched in a career-best 10 digs while Olivia Lucia swatted away a team-high three blocks.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, AUSTIN PEAY 2
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (10-2, 10-2 OVC) extended its win streak to 10 matches after the Redhawks overcame Austin Peay (8-4, 8-4 OVC) in five sets (25-14, 18-25, 25-17, 26-28, 15-12) Monday afternoon at Houck Field House.
With the win Monday, SEMO won its fifth straight series of the 2020-21 campaign. The Redhawks have now won the last four meetings with the Governors dating back to Oct. 4, 2019.
SEMO also distanced itself from Austin Peay in the Ohio Valley Conference standings as the two institutions entered the series tied for third.
Claire Ochs dished out 44 assists on her birthday as the Redhawks hit at a pace of .206. Ochs also added eight kills, eight digs and a block in the five-set victory.
Laney Malloy led the SEMO attack with 19 kills on a .228 hitting percentage with 11 digs for her seventh double-double of the season. Zoey Beasley chipped in 15 kills with a career-best nine digs.
Talia Gouard (.455) and Colby Greene each had six kills.
Trailing 2-1, Austin Peay gutted out the fourth set, 28-26, to force a decisive fifth frame. The fourth set featured 11 ties and six lead changes.
SEMO jumped out to a 7-2 advantage in the fifth set after a 5-0 run.
Kills from Greene and Beasley along with a Govs setting error extended the advantage to 10-4.
Austin Peay clawed within two points (11-9) after kills from Taylor McInerney and a service ace from Maggie Keenan.
Malloy then pounded a kill before Ochs elected for a winner from Kayla Closset to make the score 13-10.
Malloy added another kill after a SEMO service error to bring on match point at 14-11. The Govs fended off match point before a block assist from Greene and Maggie Adams sealed the victory.
SEMO hit a match-best .429 in the fifth and final set. Beasley had four kills and Malloy had three in the crucial stanza.
SEMO opened the match strong, hitting .310 in the first set. The Redhawks started the match with a 13-6 advantage. A 3-0 rally extended the lead to 18-8.
Greene and Beasley connected on consecutive kills to make the edge 20-10. Gouard would then knock a kill before an Izzy Lukens ace to claim the set, 25-14.
Austin Peay evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-18 second set. Trailing, 14-12, the Governors went on a 5-0 run to pull ahead 16-14. Austin Peay then widened the margin to 22-16 after a 6-0 rally.
SEMO would come as close as 22-18 after a block assist by Gouard and Ochs before the Governors rattled off three straight points.
SEMO rebounded and hit a .333 in the third set to take a 2-1 lead in the match. With a 14-7 edge in the set, Austin Peay chipped away at the lead with a 6-0 run to make the score 14-13.
Three straight kills from Malloy, Ochs and Beasley then regrew the SEMO margin to 20-14.
Addy McAleer would punctuate a 3-0 SEMO run with a winner to make the lead 23-15. She finished with a career-best three kills and 11 digs.
Brooke Moore and Chloe Stitt each overcame slow starts to finish with 12 kills each to lead the Govs offense. Maggie Keenan chipped in 11 kills and three blocks. Libero Nina Korfhage had 23 digs to pace a Govs defense that finished with 80 digs.
Malloy then buried back-to-back kills to grab the set, 25-17.
Trailing in the fourth set, 17-16, SEMO benefited from a 4-0 run to pull ahead 20-17. The Governors took a timeout before scoring the next three points to knot the frame at 20-20.
Chloe Stitt hit a kill to tie the set at 22-22 before kills from Beasley and Malloy brought on match point, 24-22.
Facing match point, the Governors pulled ahead 25-24 after a pair of SEMO errors coupled with a kill from Keenan.
Malloy and McAleer each tallied kills to bring the lead back to the home side, 26-25.
Three straight kills from the Governors then forced a fifth set. Kaylah Jackson's two kills bookended a Brooke Moore rally stopper to take the set, 28-26.
Aces were tied in the match at eight apiece. Ally Dion notched three while Malloy added a pair. The freshmen trio of McAleer, Lukens and Kayla Closset combined for three.
Dion made her second-straight start at libero with the absence of Tara Beilsmith. Dion finished with a match-high and season-best 27 digs with five assists.
Closset chipped in nine digs.
SEMO notched its second-highest block total in 2020-21 with 11.0 Monday. Maggie Adams had six while Gouard and Greene each finished with five.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, MURRAY STATE 1
MURRAY, Ky. - Danielle Allen had a big night on the attack as Eastern Illinois volleyball won its second match of the season with a four set win at Murray State on Monday evening.
Allen collected 21 kills while hitting .486 as the Panthers beat Murray State 3-1; (16-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-23).
The Panthers started slow on the night dropping the opening set. Murray State jumped out to a 12-6 lead as the Panthers hit negative -0.51 in the opening set. The Racers pushed the lead out to 18-10 on a kill by Kolby McClelland and then 19-10 on an attack error by Allen. That would be Allen’s last attack error of the match as she rattled off 19 kills without an error from that point on in the match.
In the second set the two teams were knotted at 20-20 following an Allen kill, one of six she had in the set. The teams remained tied at 23-23 when EIU closed out the set on a kill by Kylie Michael and block assist by Hannah Sieg and Kameryn Sillmon. Sieg finished with seven blocks (one solo) in the match.
EIU shifted some of its offensive workload in the third set as senior Laurel Bailey led the Panthers with six kills in the set. EIU built a 15-11 lead which was cut down to two points at 18-16 on back-to-back solo blocks by Taylor Beasley. Beasley posted ten blocks (four solo) in the match. EIU would push the lead to 21-17 and closed out the match on a kill by Bailey and attack error by Murray State. EIU hit .343 in the set and .234 for the match.
In the final set EIU set to the hot hitting Allen as she finished with ten kills on 13 swings in the set for a .769 attack percentage. Trailing 18-13, EIU scored its first point on a bad set by Murray State and then had kills on four of the next five points by Allen to close to 19-18. A Murray State attack error evened the set at 19-19. The two teams traded points by Bailey (service ace and kill) and Jayla Holcombe for Murray State to stand tied at 23-23. The game ended with a Racers service error and block at the net by EIU’s Sieg and Michael.
Bailey joined Allen in double figure kills with 14. Christina Martinez Mundo had 23 digs while Michael added 13.
McClelland and Darci Metzger both had 12 kills to lead Murray State. Becca Fernandez had 21 digs.
EIU improved to 2-10 overall this season. Murray State falls to 5-7.
JACKSONVILLE STATE 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 1
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Senior Kaylie Milton and junior Lena Kindermann each had 13 kills as the Jacksonville State volleyball team dropped Eastern Kentucky in straight sets to move to 12-0 on the season.
With two regular-season weekends remaining, JSU will try to run the table in its final act as a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, and to ensure another title, a perfect season may be required. The Gamecocks remain tied atop the league standings with Morehead State at 12-0 through the opening six weeks of play. After JSU hosts UT Martin and the Eagles take on EKU next weekend, the top two teams in the OVC will clash in Morehead, Kentucky, in the final weekend of the season.
On Monday, JSU hit .330 as a club on 100 attacks to top the Colonels 25-18, 25-14, 25-23. Behind Milton and Kindermann, junior Katie Montgomery hit .533 with eight kills while Addie Halverson posted a season-high six putaways on 13 swings. Senior Lexie Libs dished 21 assists through the first two sets, before freshman Macie Garrison took command of the offense for the third and final frame. Garrison matched a career-best with 15 assists, which she also did during a single set at Tennessee State on Feb. 22.
JSU leaned on its defense throughout the match as EKU had much more success on the second-straight day facing the Gamecocks. The Gamecocks registered nine blocks as a team, but Kindermann was a part of a career-best seven in a dominating performance at the net. Montgomery took part in four blocks, while freshman Sadie Brown had a trio of stops.
Behind the front line, sophomore libero Erin Carmichael led with 13 digs. Milton upped 11 attacks as part of her third double-double of the season, while Kylee Quigley had five on a day JSU forced 19 hitting errors and allowed just 31 kills for the opposition.
The Gamecocks cranked it up offensively each set with 13 kills and .242 hitting mark in the first, followed by 14 kills and .375 in the second, and then a strong 18-kill frame to close the match in three.
Milton went to work early with a trio of kills in the opening moments as JSU raced out to a 7-1 lead. JSU led 20-14 later in the set when EKU cut the deficit in half with a 3-0 run, but back-to-back kills again from the Fullerton, California, native, put the Gamecocks back in command. A block from Brown and Kindermann gave JSU the 25-18 win in the first.
In the second, EKU hung tough through the first part with an 8-7 lead, but the Gamecocks used a 4-0 run to take the lead and slowly pull away from that point. An 8-1 stretch that featured two aces from Montgomery handed JSU a 10-point advantage on its way to a 25-14 victory.
Jax State closed out its eighth sweep of the season in set three, 25-23, holding off a late surge from EKU. The Colonels led 5-2 early as JSU transitioned from Libs to Garrison, but the Gamecocks were back on top 15-11 at the media break. JSU closed in on the match with a 23-19 lead after consecutive kills by Halverson, but the Colonels rallied late before Kindermann's final kill sealed the match.
Lindsey Wilkins led the way for the Colonels with a team-best eight kills. Audrey Eurton had seven kills, 19 assists and three digs.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Recap coming soon.