FRIDAY'S SCORES
@SIUE 3, Tennessee Tech 1
@Morehead State 3, Southern Indiana 0
Lindenwood 3, @Eastern Illinois 2
Western Illinois 3, @UT Martin 0
Southeast Missouri 3, @Tennessee State 1
SIUE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball fell in the opening frame to Tennessee Tech but rallied off three consecutive set victories to claim a 3-1 win on Friday night at First Community Arena.
SIUE improves to 9-9 overall and 3-4 in Ohio Valley Conference play. Tennessee Tech falls to 6-13 and 2-6.
SIUE concluded the match with a .148 hitting percentage while holding the Golden Eagles to .121. The Cougars took advantage of 14 serving and 30 attack errors to run past TTU.
The Cougars, entering the contest as the 39th best blocking team in the NCAA, tallied 11 total blocks, marking the 11th game this season where SIUE has registered double-digit blocks. In the match, Tennessee Tech out-blocked SIUE, 14-11.
Sydney Hummert led the Cougars with 14 kills on 32 attacks for a .312 hitting percentage. She also led SIUE with 16 digs for her eighth double-double of the season.
SIUE also enjoyed an attendance of 1,587 fans, the most attended volleyball match in program history.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State volleyball team cruised to a three-set sweep (25-23, 25-21, 25-16) over the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles Friday at home at Johnson Arena.
The win boosted the Eagles' record to 10-10 overall and 3-5 in OVC play, marking the second straight sweep for Morehead State this week.
The Eagles offense was paced by M.E. Hargan, who finished with 13 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of .324. Irene Wogenstahl added 12 and Maycie Welborn chipped in with 11 as part of balanced Morehead State attack. Defensively, the Eagles had three players reach double figures in digs, including Peighton Isley's 15, 15 from Shea Hefner, and 11 more from Brenna Bommer. From the front row, Amelia Nott contributed six blocks. Overall, Morehead State held USI to a mere .053 hitting percentage.
The Eagles opened up an early one set to none lead, winning a hard-fought first set 25-23. Morehead State grabbed the advantage for good at 24-23 in a set that showcased four lead changes before the Eagles took over in the second half of the stanza. The Eagles opening set win came in a stanza where 17 of their 25 points came via the kill. got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked four Southern Indiana attacks in the stanza.
After their win in the first set, Morehead State put themselves on the cusp of a sweep with a 25-21 victory in set number two. The Eagles grabbed control of the set lead early on at 6-5 and never looked back. Morehead State opened its biggest lead of the stanza, four points, to close out the set, collecting 17 kills in the process. Morehead State's front row had a solid defensive performance, blocking five Southern Indiana attacks in the stanza.
Morehead State took set three to finish the match in a 3-0 sweep. The Eagles grabbed control of the set early when the score was 2-1 and held the lead the rest of the way to win 25-16. Morehead State led by 11 points at 19-8 before finishing off the stanza.
LINDENWOOD 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (9-9, 5-2 OVC) upset the last undefeated team in conference play Eastern Illinois (16-2, 6-1) in five sets on Friday evening in Charleston, Ill. The Lions hit 56 kills on a .199 hitting percentage.
The Lions started off the evening hot with a set one victory 25-20. Lindenwood hit .526 in the set with 11 kills, three by Rebecca Janke and Ozge Tan. Nyah Wilson also had two aces in the set.
At the first media timeout of the night, Lindenwood led 14-11 after a reversal call on a challenge by EIU. The Panthers would get within two points before Lindenwood finished them off with a Tan kill. Eastern had six service errors in the set.
Eastern Illinois got even with the Lions in the second after posting 13 kills on a .265 hitting percentage. The Lions were down 10-3 early and could never regroup after hitting .171 for the set. Addy McAleer led the Lions with three kills while Allie Otten added eight assists.
The Lions continued to capitalize on the Panthers mistakes as they took the third set 25-22. Down 7-3 early on, Lindenwood battled back to tie the match at 12-12 and 16-16. EIU then took 4-0 straight points to go up four 20-16.
Despite letting the Panthers go on a run, Lindenwood came back to tie it at 22-22. Wilson took control of the match from there on with two straight services aces. Tan then put the finishing touches on the comeback with a solo block.
The fourth set belonged to the Panthers as they settled down Lindenwood's offense holding them to a .091 hitting percentage and 10 kills. EIU gave the Lions a taste of their own medicine with three aces in the set.
Heading into the fifth set, Otten made a diving play to start the set which resulted in a LU point. Wilson and Janke overpowered the Eastern defense with a combined nine kills in the last set, helping the Lions take down the current OVC leader.
WESTERN ILLINOIS 3, UT MARTIN 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - Western Illinois swept UT Martin in straight sets on Friday (10/13) night inside the Skyhawk Fieldhouse. The three-set sweep moves WIU to 5-2 in Ohio Valley play and 6-11 overall.
WIU fell behind early in set one. Down 6-3, Julianna Schmidt's solo block cut the deficit to two. UT Martin responded, extending their lead to six (13-7) midway through the first set, forcing a Leatherneck timeout. Out of the timeout, WIU started chipping away. Keyana Cruse and Grace Kremer had kills that saw the deficit trimmed to four at 16-12. Brittany Wulf, Cruse, and Kremer kept on the offensive pressure through the latter half of the first set, cutting the deficit back down to two at 21-19. WIU used a combination of Cruse and Kremer kills and attack errors to pull in front 23-22. Annika Black and Kremer combined for a block to give WIU a lead late at 24-22. One more attack error by UT Martin would end the first set as WIU took it 25-23.
Set two started back and forth. Tied at one, two, and three, WIU would pull in front on a 4-0 run behind back-to-back kills by Schmidt. The Skyhawks cut the Leatherneck down to three before Schmidt had another kill, and Wulf had a service ace pushing WIU in front by five, 9-4. WIU held on to the five-point advantage until Black would have a kill, extending it to six as they hit the second set media timeout. UT Martin came out of the media break on a run. After tying the set at 18, Cruse would end the Skyhawks 9-4 run with a kill, putting WIU back in front 19-18.. UT Martin pulled in front after a 3-0 run, but Cruse once again ended the Skyhawk's hopes with a kill. WIU and UT Martin would trade points as both teams saw the lead late. Down 25-24, Schmidt would have back-to-back kills, putting WIU in front 26-25. UT Martin fought off a set point before Wulf, and Maggie Craker went back-to-back to claim set two 28-26 for WIU.
WIU kept their momentum rolling in set three. After falling behind 1-0, WIU would not fall behind the rest of the set. Ahead 7-6, Cruse sparked a span of three kills in a row. Wulf followed the three kills with one of her own, causing a UT Martin timeout with the score 11-6. WIU kept it rolling after the timeout as a Karli Wenzel service ace plus six UT Martin attack errors saw WIU pull ahead 18-6 on an 11-0 run. During the run, WIU saw blocks from Cruse, Kremer, and Craker. UT Martin clawed back with a 3-0 run but kills by Wulf, and Schmidt ended the set in WIU's favor 25-15.
Keyana Cruse led the Leathernecks with nine kills. Brittany Wulf and Julianna Schmidt were behind her with eight and seven kills, respectively. Maggie Craker dished out 25 assists well, and Karli Wenzel and Kaitlyn Wickersheim had 17 and 15 digs. WIU saw five players with solo blocks, as they had a team total of 14. Wulf added two service aces to her line, as WIU had three total.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, TENNESSEE STATE 1
NASHVILLE - Southeast Missouri (14-4, 6-1 OVC) picked up their third-straight conference win on Friday night, downing Tennessee State (2-14, 2-4 OVC) by a final score of 3-1 at Kean Hall.
Marisa Guisti led the Redhawks offensively with a career-high 27 kills on 48 total attacks for a .521 percentage, surpassing her previous kills mark of 23 (9/8/23).
Guisti, the middle blocker from Peru, Ill., finished with her third highest attacking percentage on the season. Guisti finished with 28 points, a team and career-high for her.
SEMO won the match 25-19, 21-25, 25-13, 25-18 to pick up their sixth conference win of the season.
As a team, the Redhawks finished the match with a .268 hitting percentage, including a season-high 92-percent side-out percentage in the third set. In the third and fourth set, SEMO finished the sets with a .316 and .317, respectively, hitting percentage.
Three Redhawks found their way into double digits on the offensive side of the net, led by Guisti, including freshman Lucy Arndt and graduate student Talia Gouard.
Arndt and Gouard finished with 13 and 10 kills, respectively. Arndt finished with a double-double on the evening, recording 15 digs on the defensive side of the net.
Setter Izzy Lukens finished the match with 52 assists, leading SEMO to their .268 hitting-percentage. The 52 assists are the second most of the season for Lukens. She finished with one kill and 10 digs.
On 123 total attempts, Lukens finished with a setting-percentage of .423.
Libero Tara Beilsmith inched closer to the OVC career record for digs. Needing 39 digs to surpass the record, Beilsmith finished with 18 digs on the night. She needs just 21 more digs to surpass the OVC career record. She finished with a .957 reception percentage.
Freshman Nina Schuberth, who currently ranks third in the OVC for service aces, recorded an ace and 10 digs off the bench for SEMO. She finished with a perfect 1.000 reception percentage with 18 total attempts.