SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee State 3, Eastern Illinois 1 (25-23, 25-21, 19-25, 25-16)
Eastern Illinois 3, @Tennessee State 1 (22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 28-26)
UT Martin 3, @SIUE 0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-16)
Morehead State 3, @Southern Indiana 0 (25-20, 27-25, 25-19)
@Tennessee Tech 3, Little Rock 0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-20)
UT MARTIN 3, SIUE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - The SIUE volleyball team fell to the visiting UT Martin Skyhawks, 0-3, on Saturday afternoon at First Community Arena. The Cougars hit just .108 in the match, compared to the Skyhawks' .363. The set scores were: 25-19, 25-13, and 25-16.
Following the loss, SIUE drops to 11-14 on the season and 6-8 in Ohio Valley Conference. The Skyhawks, who hold the top record in the conference, improved to 18-9 and 12-2.
UT Martin came out swinging, hitting .361, and took advantage of six attack errors by the Cougars in the opening frame. Leading 5-4 early, the Skyhawks extended their lead on an 8-2 run to push their advantage to seven. The Cougars showed fight late in the set, cutting their deficit to four, but the Skyhawks would prevail to take the first set, 25-19.
The Skyhawks kept their spark early in the second, commanding an 11-3 over the Cougars. UT Martin finished the set on a 3-0 run to take the second frame, 25-13, and 2-0 advantage in the match. The Cougars gathered just eight kills on 42 total attacks in the set.
The Cougars took their first lead of the match at 2-0 in the third, but UT Martin quickly responded to tie the set at four. Knotted up at eight, the Skyhawks used a 4-0 run to regain the lead, which they held for the remainder of the set. SIUE closed the gap to one point at 13-12, but UT Martin used a 7-2 run to extend its lead over the Cougars. UT Martin would take victory in the set, 25-16 and 3-0 in the match.
UT Martin's Karen Scanlon led the team with eight kills and 13 digs.
Leading the Cougars' attack in the loss were Sydney Hummert and Ainsley Ranstead who both finished with eight kills. Priscilla Jones also chipped in seven kills. Alyse Drifka and Caroline Waite added assists for SIUE, with 13 and 10 respectively.
At the net, SIUE's Jessica Vineyard collected a team-high two blocks in the match, while Jenna Taphorn, Monica LaFleur, and Savannah Christian each added one. Nicole Kijowski paced the Cougars' defense with 18 digs.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Volleyball (1-23, 1-12 OVC) could not get going against Morehead State University (13-12, 9-5 OVC) Saturday afternoon at Screaming Eagles Arena, falling 3-0 (20-25, 25-27, 19-25).
A late run by MSU cost the Screaming Eagles the opening set, 25-20. It was a slow start for USI after not securing an offensive point until a service ace from sophomore outside/right side hitter Abby Bednar (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) that brought the offense to life and tied the set at eight apiece. MSU put up eight of the next 12 points to regain the lead at 16-12. However, a trio of attacking errors from MSU and a pair of kills from USI brought the Eagles within one. Trailing 20-19, USI was not able to capture their first lead of the match due to MSU's 5-1 run that ended the set.
USI held a solid lead late in the second set but watched MSU slowly steal the 27-25 second-set win. Junior outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) kicked off the game with a kill before freshman middle hitter Bianca Anderson (Chicago Heights, Illinois) and sophomore middle hitter Paris Downing (Avon, Indiana) each tacked on a kill of their own to help USI gain a 4-3 advantage. MSU returned the favor with a few kills and an ace to give themselves an 8-6 lead. USI was able to get three-straight points to regain the lead, 9-8; however, MSU tallied six of the next nine points to make it 14-12. This is when USI stormed back with a 5-0 stint, ending with an ace from sophomore outside hitter Abby Weber (Fishers, Indiana) that gave the Eagles a 17-14 lead. Despite being down, MSU came back and took the lead once again to force extra play. The second frame ended with three-straight offensive points for MSU to give them a 2-0 match advantage.
The final frame ended with a 25-19 victory for MSU. USI was able to get the lead early with a couple of MSU errors and a kill from Downing and Bednar to make it 5-3. Both sides traded the lead up until MSU went on a 4-0 run that gave them a 20-16 advantage. An MSU service error and Downing kill brought USI back to life, but it was too late as MSU ended the match on a 4-1 surge that ended USI's night.
Sophomore setter Carly Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Indiana) highlights USI's efforts, recording her seventh double-double this season by nabbing 28 assists and 10 digs. L Anderson finished the match with 11 kills, nine digs, and three blocks while B Anderson tallied nine kills with three blocks. Bednar earned 10 digs along with two aces while Downing had four blocks to lead all players. Junior libero/defensive specialist Audrey Crowder (Avon, Indiana) completed the match with 10 digs, her third straight double-digit dig game.
USI produced 35 kills, 32 assists, and three aces along with 50 digs and eight blocks. MSU ended the night with 44 kills, 43 assists, and five aces to go with 61 digs and four blocks.
Abby Hulsman, Maycie Welborn and Sydney Wyman led the Eagles with 11 kills each. Peighton Isley recorded a team-high 17 digs.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, LITTLE ROCK 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Little Rock's offense was limited at Tennessee Tech Saturday afternoon with the Trojans being held to a .000 in a straight set loss at the Eblen Center in Cookeville.
Daedrianna Cail was the lone bright spot on the Little Rock offense, leading the team with eight kills and posting a .278 hitting percentage. She was the only Trojan to hit above .100 in the match. Set scores were 25-21, 25-16 and 25-20.
Little Rock (7-20, 4-10 Ohio Valley) was limited to just seven total team blocks while Tennessee Tech (14-12, 11-3) claimed its eighth straight win with a .182 hitting percentage, seven service aces and 10 total blocks.
The Trojans struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the opening set, hitting .000 while Tennessee Tech was immediately comfortable with a .257 clip. Cail put down three kills and was the only player to hit above .000 in the frame. Lindsey Cross served up a pair of aces in back-to back points, representing two of Little Rock's three aces in the match.
Little Rock was held to a -.086 mark in the second set courtesy of hitting into seven Golden Eagle blocks including three block solos.
The third set saw Little Rock post a net advantage, out-blocking Tennessee Tech 3-1 in the frame. Cail and Laure Jansen were responsible for a pair of block assists in the set while Jaycee Kennedy and Nedima Kamberovic had one each.
Tennessee Tech was led by Madolyn Isringhausen's 14 kills while Brooke Amann added eight kills with a .333 hitting mark.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1; EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, TENNESSEE STATE 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee State University Tiger volleyball team totaled 16 blocks on the way to a 3-1 victory (25-23, 25-21, 19-25, 25-16) over the Eastern Illinois Panthers Saturday at home at Kean Hall .
The win improved the Tigers' record to 12-14 overall and 6-7 in OVC play. It also makes their record at Kean Hall 9-1 for the season.
Johanna Alcantara, the OVC Offensive and Newcomer of the Week, finished with 26 kills on the day to lead the TSU offense while finishing with a hitting percentage of .333. got 23 digs from this week's OVC Defender of the Week Gina Rivera-Ortiz along with eight blocks from the OVC leader Gabrielle Johnson and eight rejections from Kennedy Davis to lead
Kaitlyn Flynn and Ella Collins were tied for the lead in kills for the Panthers with 12 each. Summerlyn Smith led the team in assists with 19 while Catalina Rochaix had 17.
SET 1 | The Tigers opened up an early one set to none lead, winning a tight first set 25-23. Tennessee State started slow and trailed by as many as six points. Two blocks by Gabrielle Johnson gave TSU an 18-16 lead. The Tigers took advantage for good at 19-18. TSU got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked six Eastern Illinois attacks in the stanza and capitalized on 12 Eastern Illinois attacking errors on the way to victory.
SET 2 | Tennessee State carried momentum from a set-one win by securing a 25-21 victory in the second set. The Tigers took control of the set lead early on at 3-2 and never looked back. Tennessee State led by as many as 10 points at 19-9 before finishing off the set. Three early kills by Johanna Alcantara gave the Tigers the boost they needed to make 7-3 forcing an early EIU timeout. EIU didn't quit going on a 4-0 to force TSU to call a timeout with the score at 24-21. Kennedy Davis finish the set off with a kill.
SET 3 | Tennessee State couldn't end the match in a sweep, losing the third set to make their lead two sets to one in the match. The Tigers dropped a tough set 25-19. Tennessee State trailed by as many as seven points as Eastern Illinois grabbed the advantage for good at 2-1 in a set that was tied up four times before the Panthers took over the lead. Storm White had three early kills to keep the Tigers in the set but it was not enough.
SET 4 | Tennessee State then responded to claim the match win with a 25-16 set-four victory. The Tigers scored first and never trailed in the set to secure the victory. Tennessee State finished up the stanza on a strong note, claiming its biggest lead, nine points, to close out the set. Tennessee State got an standout defensive performance from a front row that blocked eight Eastern Illinois attacks in the stanza and capitalized on 11 Eastern Illinois attacking errors on the way to victory. Kennedy Davis and Aleksandra Rojecka had three block assists early to fuel the four set win.