SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee State 3, SIUE 1 (25-16, 26-28, 25-15, 25-16)
@UT Martin 3, Lindenwood 0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-18)
Tennessee Tech 3, @Southeast Missouri 1 (25-18, 16-25, 25-23, 25-20)
@Little Rock 3, Southern Indiana 2 (31-29, 25-17, 11-25, 18-25, 15-10)
TENNESSEE STATE 3, SIUE 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee State University Tiger volleyball team needed just four sets (25-16, 26-28, 25-15, 25-16, 25-16) to knock off the SIU-Edwardsville Cougars Saturday at home at Kean Hall.
The victory improved the Tigers' record to 11-14 overall and 5-7 in OVC action. They are 8-1 at Kean Hall for the season.
The Tigers attack was paced by Johanna Alcantara, who finished with 19 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of .310 , and by Aleksandra Rojecka, who had 10 while hitting .267. Defensively, had three players reach double figures in digs, including Gina Rivera-Ortiz's 37, 13 from Sofia Garcia-Guerrios, and 11 more from Carla Boudal.
Tennessee State had three players in double figures in digs.
Aleksandra Rojecka had a team-high one ace in the win.
Tennessee State never trailed on the way to winning the third set 25-15.
Johanna Alcantara had a match-high 19 kills for Tennessee State.
Tennessee State got a match-high 37 digs from Gina Rivera-Ortiz.
Tennessee State attackers were helped by a match-high 31 assists from Sofia Garcia-Guerrios.
Priscilla Jones finished the match with a team-best 10 kills and three blocks. Ainsley Ranstead also notched nine kills in the loss. On the service line, Sydney Hummert led SIUE with three service aces for a new career high.
On defense, Nicole Kijowski racked up 21 digs. Alyse Drifka also ended with double-digit digs, picking up six while dishing out a team-best 14 assists for a double-double.
SET 1 | The Tigers seized an early lead, handily winning the first set 25-16. Tennessee State never trailed by more than five points and grabbed the advantage for good at 11-10 in a set that showcased three lead changes before the TSU took over the lead. got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked five SIU-Edwardsville attacks in the stanza and capitalized on 10 SIU-Edwardsville attacking errors on the way to victory. An 8-0 run at the end of the set propelled the Tigers to the win.
SET 2 | Tennessee State then lost the second set 28-26, evening things at a set each. The Tigers came up short in a back-and-forth set, losing in a stanza that featured nine lead changes and was tied 17 times. Neither team led by more than three points along the way. Two late service aces by SIUE's Ainsley Ranstead help the Cougars on the set.
SET 3 | Tennessee State put the second-set loss behind and grabbed a 2-1 match lead with a win in set three. TSU scored first and never trailed in the set to secure a 25-15 victory. Tennessee State ended on a high note, claiming its biggest lead, 10 points, to finish off the set. Storm White was big in the set with five kills.
SET 4 | Tennessee State kept the momentum going, claiming the match win with a 25-16 set-four victory. The Tigers took control of the set at 3-2 and held the lead the rest of the way. Tennessee State led by as many as 13 points at 24-11 before finishing off the stanza, totaling 15 kills along the way. TSU went on an 8-0 run to make the score 10-2 and they never looked back.
UT MARTIN 3, LINDENWOOD 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - UT Martin swept Lindenwood (25-18, 25-22, 25-18) on Saturday afternoon. The Skyhawks improved to 10-2 in the OvC and 16-9 overall while the Lions dropped t0 4-7 in league play and 7-13 overall.
UT Martin's Logan Wallick recorded a match-high 14 kills while hitting .500 in the match. Karen Scanlon added 10 kills while Dylan Mott led all players with 14 digs.
Rebecca Janke led Lindenwood with a match-best 14 kills and a .636 hitting percentage. Jessie Seidel had a team-high 10 digs while Abby VanBuskirk led all players with 32 assists.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Tara Beilsmith registered 25 digs to surpass 2,000 in her career as a Redhawk as Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (11-13, 6-6 OVC) fell to Tennessee Tech (11-12, 8-3 OVC), 3-1 (18-25, 25-16, 23-25, 20-25) in the series finale Saturday afternoon at Houck Field House.
Beilsmith became the second Southeast Missouri player to surpass 2,000 career digs Saturday. She now has 2,009 career digs and 545 in 2022.
The senior libero from Weldon Spring, Missouri, ranks second all-time in SEMO program history for digs.
Beilsmith, the reigning back-to-back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Week, also finished Saturday with eight assists and two service aces.
Colby Greene led SEMO offensively with 13 kills on a .480 clip with four digs and two blocks while Kayla Closset added 11 kills and 12 digs for the double-double outing.
Zoey Beasley chipped in nine kills with three blocks and a dig.
The Golden Eagles took an early 10-6 lead in the match that grew to 16-11 after a 3-0 rally.
SEMO would respond with three-straight points to cut the deficit to 16-14.
TTU then utilized a 6-1 swing to go up 22-15. A kill from Greene would trim the margin to 23-18 before the Golden Eagles grabbed the opening set with kills from Madolyn Isringhausen and Skylar Boom.
SEMO would then even the match at 1-1 with a 25-16 second stanza, hitting a match high .317.
Trailing slightly 10-9, SEMO pulled ahead 14-10 after a 5-0 sequence. Mackenzie Meehan, Ramiri Gardner and Closset (2) all had kills during the run while Gardner and Closset teamed up for a block.
The Redhawks added another 5-0 rally to increase the advantage to 21-12. Gardner had a solo block before joining Beasley for a block assist to score consecutive SEMO points.
TTU would come as close as 23-16 before a kill by Greene and a block by Beasley and Meehan evened the match at 1-1.
SEMO took a 12-9 lead in the third set after a 4-0 run to prompt a Golden Eagles timeout.
TTU then brought the lead in its favor with an 8-1 run, 17-13.
The Redhawks kept fighting in the frame, pulling ahead 19-17 after six-straight points. Closset, Beasley and Greene all had kills while Closset placed a service ace during the action.
Kills from Greene and Lukens would keep the SEMO lead at one, 20-18 and then 21-20 before a 4-1 run by TTU made it set point at 24-22.
Closset added a kill before Boom increased the TTU lead to 2-1 (25-23 third set).
SEMO took an early 9-5 lead in the fourth period to force a Golden Eagles timeout. TTU would return the favor with five-straight points for a 10-9 lead and a Redhawk timeout.
Taylor Dorsey, Morgan Gish (2) and Isringhausen then combined for four straight kills to widen the gap to 15-11 for TTU.
SEMO then went on a 5-1 run to pull ahead 18-17. Greene opened the sequence with consecutive kills before a TTU error followed by a Beasley kill and Meehan solo block.
The Golden Eagles then claimed the match with seven of the final eight points, 25-20.
Izzy Lukens finished with 21 assists and 10 digs with a kill while Kaelyn O'Brien added 16 assists, six kills and three digs.
Gardner tallied five kills and six blocks while Meehan had four kills and four blocks.
Kalia Morris scooped up six digs while Addy McAleer added four.
Aces finished tied at 6-6 while SEMO out blocked the Golden Eagles, 10-6.
TTU hit .235 including .371 in the third set and .314 in the final frame Saturday.
Dorsey and Boom led the Golden Eagles with 15 kill each. Jordan Karlen finished with 45 assists and Brooke Amann had 17 digs.
LITTLE ROCK 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 2
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Little Rock defeated Southern Indiana in five sets (31-29, 25-17, 11-25, 18-25, 15-10).
Despite holding a late lead, USI watched Little Rock steal an opening set win, 31-29. The Eagles kicked off the frame with a 5-0 run that included four Trojan attacking errors and a kill from Anderson. Little Rock would later threaten USI's lead after the Eagles had five straight attacking errors to tie the set at 12 apiece. However, USI turned things around after a monster kill from sophomore outside/right side hitter Abby Bednar (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) and a service ace from sophomore outside hitter Abby Weber (Fishers, Indiana) to make it a two-point Eagles' advantage. USI was able to push the lead even further and issued a set point at 24-19 before Little Rock stormed back and scored six straight points and forced extra play. The Eagles could not converge on a one-point lead and watched the Trojans throw down a kill and an ace to take the 1-0 match lead. USI outhit Little Rock in the first game with 14 kills compared to 12 kills.
An early Trojans lead ends with a 25-17 Eagles second-set loss. Little Rock went on an 8-3 stint that caught USI off guard before Weber's kill put the Eagles back in the game. Before USI knew it, Little Rock doubled up the Eagles by taking a 16-8 advantage. USI was able to threaten by cutting the deficit to six before the Trojans tallied five of the last nine points to seal the Eagles' fate and extend to a 2-0 match advantage. Anderson recorded her 10th double-double in the second frame, finishing the set with 13 kills and 10 digs.
The Eagles put on a clinic in the third game, rolling past the Trojans, 25-11. The set started with an 8-2 USI lead that saw six attacking errors from Little Rock. Despite the Trojans cutting the deficit to five, the Eagles went on a 7-0 stint that made it 15-3. Bednar highlighted the run with a pair of aces. With a 16-7 gap, USI went on another run that resulted in a 21-7 advantage. The Trojans were able to add four more points before the Eagles took care of business and earned their first win of the match. USI had 11 kills off 30 attempts which equals a .267 hitting percentage.
Another dominant performance from the Eagles lifts them to a 25-18 fourth-set win and ties the match at two apiece. USI jumped out to an 8-6 lead with the help of a pair of Weber kills and an Anderson ace. From there, the Eagles never gave up the lead again despite the Trojans' efforts on offense. USI recorded a match-high 15 kills in the fourth game with just three errors to produce a match-high .316 attacking percentage. This was the first time this season that the Eagles came back from a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth set.
The final frame ended with a 15-10 loss for USI and ended their miraculous comeback. The set started with a 4-0 Little Rock run until Anderson's one of four kills in the set to stop the bleeding. The Eagles were doubled up 8-4 before sophomore middle hitter Paris Downing (Avon, Indiana) added a kill that cut the deficit to two. A service ace from sophomore defensive specialist/outside hitter Anna Ballengee (Montgomery, Indiana) kept USI alive before Little Rock tacked on the final points to win the match.
Daria Burrows led the Trojans with 12 kills while Nedima Kamberovic and Zanobia Willis each had eight. Little Rock had five players reach double digits in digs with Jalynn Robinson leading the way with 17. Laure Jansen and Rylee McClintok each had 15 while Gabrielle Spankus had 14 and Jeila Fullerton recorded 13.
Three Eagles nabbed double-doubles in the match. Leah Anderson earned 26 kills and 18 digs while Weber tallied 11 kills and 14 digs with sophomore setter Carly Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Indiana) producing 22 assists and 20 digs. Anna Ballengee led the team with three aces while Abby Bednar and Paris Downing added five blocks each.