SATURDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee State 3, Alcorn State 0 (25-8, 25-7, 25-19)
@Tennessee State 3, North Alabama 1 (25-21, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19)
Bryant 3,
Lindenwood 0 (25-23, 25-19, 28-26)
Brown 3,
Lindenwood 1 (25-18, 27-25, 23-25, 25-17)
Southeast Missouri 3, Alabama A&M 0 (25-15, 25-11, 25-23)
@Memphis 3,
Little Rock 0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-21)
Texas A&M 3,
Tennessee Tech 0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-17)
Eastern Illinois 3, Duquesne 0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-20)
@Green Bay 3,
SIUE 1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 25-16)
@Northern Illinois 3,
Southern Indiana 0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-22)
@Austin Peay 3,
UT Martin 0 (25-17, 25-19, 25-16)
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, ALABAMA A&M 0
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Southeast Missouri women's volleyball (5-7, 0-0 OVC) wrapped up its non-conference slate and the 2022 Saluki Invitational with a 3-0 sweep (25-15, 25-11, 25-23) of Alabama A&M (1-13, 0-0 SWAC) Saturday at the Banterra Center.
Zoey Beasley was named to the Saluki Invitational All-Tournament Team after she registered a team-high 36 kills (3.27 kills/set) to go along with nine digs and six blocks over the two-day Invitational. The all-tournament team was the second in Beasley's career as a Redhawk.
The senior from Paragould, Arkansas, notched six kills with three blocks Saturday against Alabama A&M.
Colby Greene led the Redhawks in the tournament finale with eight kills. Ramiri Gardner added six rally stoppers and four blocks while Kaelyn O'Brien finished with five kills, 12 assists and five digs.
The Redhawks notched a season high 13 service aces against the Bulldogs.
SEMO commenced the match with an 8-4 advantage that grew to 20-11 after a 5-0 run.
Kayla Closset then belted a kill on her 21st Birthday to secure the opening set, 25-15.
The Redhawks posted a hitting clip of .417 in the first stanza and finished with a .353 mark Saturday.
SEMO improved with an extraordinary percentage of .600 in the middle set Saturday. The Redhawks jumped out to a 9-3 edge that increased to 13-6 after a kill by Greene following an AAM error.
SEMO then utilized a 6-0 run to widen the margin to 22-10. O'Brien opened the sequence with a kill and the rally also featured a service ace from Tara Beilsmith and a block assist by Beasley and Gardner.
The Redhawks increased their advantage in the match to 2-0 with a 25-11 second frame. Gardner slammed a kill before consecutive rally stoppers by Greene.
SEMO then scored the initial six points in the third period. The Beasley sisters accounted for the first five as Taylor had a kill and three consecutive aces while Zoey added a rally stopper.
A kill from Zoey Beasley extended the lead to 10-3.
The Bulldogs responded with a 6-0 run to even the set at 14-14.
O'Brien knocked a kill before a Taylor Beasley ace to bring the lead back in favor of the Redhawks, 18-15.
Taylor Beasley, a junior transfer from Murray State, had a career best four service aces and two digs and a kill.
Avery Torrey notched a pair of kills to bring on match point at 24-21. The Bulldogs fended off match point twice before committing a service error to wrap the match, 25-23.
Izzy Lukens posted 13 assists.
Kalia Morris grabbed a career high five digs with four service aces. Beilsmith added four digs and four aces.
Caitlin Shaw led Alabama A&M with 12 kills and three digs. Mackenzie Jarvis had 13 assists and three digs while Keyara Brooks added 11 assists. Ajanae Cressey chipped in four digs.
With the victory, SEMO concluded non-conference play with a 5-7 mark and snapped a two-match losing streak.
Following SEMO's final non-conference tournament this weekend, the Redhawks will return home to Houck Field House to defend their 2021 Ohio Valley Conference titles with a series against Tennessee State. The matches are set for 6 p.m., CT and 7 p.m., respectively in the Friday and Saturday matchup.
MEMPHIS 3, LITTLE ROCK 0
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - – Memphis may have claimed the win over Little Rock Saturday afternoon in the last match of the Bluff City Showdown, but it wasn’t without plenty of stress for the Tigers. And they were relieved to see Little Rock’s Gabrielle Spankus leave their building.
Spankus, a true freshman for the Trojans, was seemingly all over the court in the 3-0 loss to Memphis with career highs in kills (7), hitting percentage (.211) and blocks (3). Set scores in the match were 25-17, 25-17 and 25-21.
Her three block assists were part of a 10-9 blocking advantage for Little Rock (3-9). At one point in the first set, Spankus scored four consecutive points with three straight kills then assisting on a block as part of a 6-0 Little Rock run that forced a Memphis timeout partway through the run.
Zanobia Willis matched her career-high in blocking, assisting on nine of Little Rock’s 10 total blocks while adding five kills. Makaila Harris added eight kills and 11 digs while Livia Kimura led the Trojans with 16 digs.
But the Tigers (10-3) claimed their sixth consecutive win despite the Trojans holding them to a .150 hitting percentage, utilizing six aces and 36 total kills to get past Little Rock.
Little Rock refused to concede any set, including a third set where the Trojans mounted a 7-0 run late to pull within one at 21-20 and to force a Tigers timeout.
Memphis was led by Jasmyn Tate’s 13 kills and .478 hitting percentage but she was the only Tiger to hit above .200. Kate Bass tallied six total blocks.
Little Rock now returns to the Capital City to prepare for its home opener as well as the program’s first-ever Ohio Valley Conference match. The Trojans will host UT Martin next weekend with first serve on Friday, Sept. 23 set for 6 p.m. The first 100 fans at the Jack Stephens Center will receive a 2022 schedule poster. Little Rock and the Skyhawks will face each other again the following day, Sept. 24, in the Trojans’ Pride Weekend match with first serve set for 4 p.m.
TEXAS A&M 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - The Tennessee Tech volleyball team wrapped up non-conference action with its final match of the WKU Invitational Saturday afternoon, falling to Texas A&M at Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. 3-0.
The Aggies claimed the opening set 25-16, pulling away from a 7-7 tie with a 5-0 run. Texas A&M extended the lead further, using 14 kills and a .423 attack percentage to collect the win. Tech outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen led the purple and gold in the set, hitting .429 with four kills.
In set two, the Golden Eagles took the early lead at 8-5. Texas A&M responded with a 6-0 run to push out in front for good, eventually taking the set 25-19. The Aggies used a similar run to break an 8-8 tie in the third set, moving on to a 25-17 victory.
Middle blocker Taylor Dorsey led the Golden Eagle squad with eight kills on the day, hitting a solid .312 with a block. Isringhausen delivered seven kills with six digs, as well as two service aces.
Libero McKenna Young padded the purple and gold with 10 digs while securing a pair of aces as well. Setter Jordan Karlen totaled 25 assists and a pair of blocks while middle blocker Skylar Boom led the Tech defense with three blocks.
The Golden Eagles will kick off Ohio Valley Conference play with a pair of matches against new league foe Southern Indiana next weekend. Tech will host the Screaming Eagles Friday, Sept. 23 at 6:00 p.m. CT and again on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 2:00 p.m.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, DUQUENSE 0
TOLEDO, Ohio - Eastern Illinois (6-7, 0-0 OVC) volleyball wins the second match at the Toledo Challenge against the Dukes from Duquesne (3-9, 0-0 A10) by a final score of 3-0. Kaitlyn Flynn led all players with 17 kills and was second on the team with a .455 hitting percentage. The set scores were: 25-17, 25-17, 25-20.
Flynn and the Panthers offense was lethal at the net today hitting 43 kills and a team hitting percentage of .272 compared to Duquesne's 32 kills and a .149 percentage. Ella Collins was huge for EIU's offense with nine kills on 19 attempts. Tori Moheskey and Kate Dean both logged five kills apiece.
EIU got out to early leads in the first (8-2) and in the third set (10-4) to help give them their sixth victory of the season. The Panthers were able to secure multiple key points from behind the service line with Sylvia Hasz collecting four aces along with 14 assists. Eastern had seven aces compared to the Dukes three.
The setter duo or Hasz and Catalina Rochaix helped EIU to a season high .272 hitting percentage while assisting on 37 of 43 kills. Rochaix led the team in assists with 19 while also picking up five digs in the win.
Christina Martinez Mundo also provided a spark behind the service line with two aces of her own along with 11 digs on defense. She was not alone on the defensive side with Ashley Sharkus picking up seven digs. Six different Panthers recorded at least three digs.
From the start EIU took advantage while not allowing a lead change or a tie throughout the entire match. Annika Black and Dean also combined for two block assists each with Dean collecting a solo block against Duquesne.
The Dukes were led by Carsyn Henschen with nine kills at the net while Elizabeth Osborn also posted nine kills and four digs. Hailey Poling led all setters in them match while assisting on 27 of the teams 32 kills. Madison Grimm chipped in 12 digs for Duquesne. The team drops to 3-9 on the season before heading into conference play.
EIU will be back next weekend as they start Ohio Valley Conference play in Lantz Arena against the SIUE Cougars. The Panthers will play on Friday, Sept. 23 at 6 p.m. and on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 4 p.m. Livestats will be provided along with the match being streamed on ESPN+.
GREEN BAY 3, SIUE 1
GREEN BAY, Wis. - Recap coming soon.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
DEKALB, Ill. - Junior outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) made history Saturday afternoon at Victor E. Court when she became the 15th player in program history to accumulate 1,000 career kills. Anderson's feat, however, was not enough as the University of Southern Indiana (0-11, 0-0 OVC) capped off non-conference play with a 3-0 loss (15-25, 21-25, 22-25) to Northern Illinois University (7-3).
The Eagles could not control the Huskies' powerful attackers, falling 25-15 in the opening frame. USI began the set with big kills from sophomore middle hitter Paris Downing (Avon, Indiana) and sophomore outside hitter Abby Weber (Fishers, Indiana) to make it 3-2. NIU retaliated by going on a 7-2 run that resulted in a 9-5 USI deficit. After the Eagles cut the gap to just two, the Huskies went on a 6-0 surge from six straight kills. Down 18-10, USI got back into the game with kills from Weber and sophomore outside/right side hitter Abby Bednar (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) that pull the Eagles within six, but it was too late as the Huskies tallied six of the final eight points to claim a 1-0 match lead. As a team, USI had eight kills compared to NIU's 18 kills.
Despite a valiant comeback, the Eagles watched the second set slip out of reach as the Huskies claimed the 25-21 victory. The frame kicked off with a 5-1 gap in NIU's favor where USI's sole point came from an Anderson kill. With the score at 10-6, Anderson was able to strike down her third kill to claim the 1,000-kills title and etch her name into USI history. This milestone would later spark the Eagles' offense as USI went on a 5-0 run to make it a 17-16 game. After kills from Bednar and Downing, the Eagles had tied it at 20 apiece until the Huskies tallied five of the final six points to claim the second set win. Anderson finished the set with five of USI's 12 kills while the team ended the frame with a .241 hitting percentage and two aces. NIU recorded a match-high .519 attacking percentage in the second frame with 16 kills and two attack errors off 27 attempts.
Another early NIU run proved costly for USI, as the Eagles lost the final set, 25-22. The Huskies started the frame with a commanding 7-3 lead until stormed back to tie it at 11 apiece. Sophomore setter Carly Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Indiana) played a big part in the comeback, earning a service ace that switched the momentum. NIU turned the tables by going on a short 4-0 trip to make it 15-11. A Weber kill and an ace from junior libero/defensive specialist Audrey Crowder (Avon, Indiana) cut the deficit in half before the Huskies struck back with a 6-1 surge that made it 21-14. The Eagles did not falter, earning seven of the next eight points to make it a one-point game. Weber and freshman libero/defensive specialist Keira Moore (Newburgh, Indiana) each earned an ace while Anderson and Weber tallied one kill each during the stretch. NIU would hold onto the lead and tally the third set win and its seventh victory of the season.
Only five Eagles provided kills with Weber nabbing eight, Bednar tallying seven, and Anderson and Downing each capturing six. Moore led the team with 11 digs with Sobieralski adding 10 digs. Sophomore middle blocker Lauren O'Neill (Covington, Indiana) led USI with three blocks as Sobieralski led the squad with 23 assists. Along with leading the Eagles in kills, Weber recorded the most aces in the match with three.
As a team, USI had 28 kills, 27 assists, and six aces along with 38 digs and six blocks (three solo and six assists). NIU ended the afternoon with 48 kills, 40 assists, and five aces along with 54 digs and seven blocks (two solo and 10 assists). The Eagles finished the match with a .126 attacking percentage while the Huskies put up an even .300 hitting percentage.
The Eagles stay on the road for the beginning of Ohio Valley Conference play as USI will travel to Cookeville, Tennessee for a battle against Tennessee Tech University. USI and TTU will face each other twice next weekend, once on Friday September 23 and again on Saturday September 24. This will be the first OVC match of the regular season and program history for the Eagles.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, UT MARTIN 0
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - Recap coming soon.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, ALCORN STATE 0; TENNESSEE STATE 3, NORTH ALABAMA 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Recap coming soon.
BRYANT 3, LINDENWOOD 0; BROWN 3, LINDENWOOD 1
STORRS, Conn.- Recap coming soon.