FRIDAY'S SCORES
Tennessee Tech 3, @Western Illinois 1
@Morehead State 3, UT Martin 1
@Lindenwood 3, Little Rock 0
@Eastern Illinois 3, Southeast Missouri 1
@SIUE 3, Tennessee State 0
TENNESSEE TECH 3, WESTERN ILLINOIS 1
MACOMB, Ill. - Another brilliant display of offense propelled the Tennessee Tech volleyball team to another 3-1 victory at Western Illinois Friday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles capped off a weekend sweep against their new Ohio Valley Conference rivals in Macomb, Ill.
Using a very similar recipe to Thursday evening's 3-1 triumph over the Leathernecks (7-16, 6-6), the Cookeville crew was spectacular in three of the four sets on the day, delivering another clutch victory to help keep the team in the hunt for a bid to the OVC Tournament.
Both sides fought back and forth in the opening set, with neither side taking more than a two-point lead until WIU pushed out front, 21-17. The Golden Eagles responded by rolling off a 5-0 run and pushing in front by a point.
The Leathernecks refused to give in without a fight, tying the match at 22 and responding to each of the next three Tech points to deadlock the set at 25-25. The visiting purple and gold finally broke through with back-to-back markers to claim a massive 27-25 victory behind 18 kills and a .359 attack.
Things went smoother in set two for the Tech squad, taking a 2-1 lead and never looking back. Cruising to a 25-17 win, the Golden Eagles racked up 15 more terminations while hitting .303 with five service aces.
Western Illinois kept things interesting in the match, using four blocks and 16 kills on a .368 attack percentage to earn a 25-18 decision and keep hope alive for the home crowd. That hope looked well invested early in the fourth set as well.
The home team pushed out to an 8-4 advantage, but the Golden Eagles would not be denied. Tech responded to the four-point deficit with a 10-2 run that put the visitors on top for good. WIU put forth two comeback bids, pulling to within a single point twice.
Leading 22-21, Tech finished things off with three straight kills, earning a 25-21 win to clinch the victory. The visiting purple and gold registered a whopping 19 kills in the set, smashing .395.
Junior outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen led the charge for the Golden Eagles, crushing .405 with a season-high 22 kills. She added 15 digs to notch her 10th double-double of the year, sneaking in three service aces for good measure.
Sophomore Jordan Karlen directed the offensive attack on the day, piling up 50 assists for an average of 12.50 per set. Chipping in 12 digs as well, she also locked down her 10th double-double of the season.
Fresh off her season-high 21 terminations, outside Bella Powell contributed another 18 on Friday, hitting a robust .412 overall. Capping an impressive weekend, the junior delivered a season-best 15 digs to record her fifth double-double of the year.
Rookie right side Ava Schubert led the Cookeville squad with four blocks in the match, adding 12 kills to the mix as well. Middle blocker Emma Pabon totaled three blocks with six kills while fell middle Skylar Boom tallied five kills and two rejections.
Libero McKenna Young tied with Powell and Isringhausen for the team lead in digs, producing 15 to go along with six assists and two aces. Defensive specialist Aleeya Jones made it five Golden Eagles with double-digit digs, totaling 11 for the match.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, UT MARTIN 1
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State volleyball team rallied after dropping the first set to secure a 3-1 win (20-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-22) over the UT Martin Skyhawks Friday at home at Johnson Arena.
The victory moved the Eagles' record to 13-11 overall and 6-6 in OVC play.
The Eagles offense was paced by M.E. Hargan, who finished with 24 kills on the day -- her second highest total of the season. Amelia Nott added 13 while Maycie Welborn and Irene Wogenstahl chipped in with 11 as part of a Morehead State attack that had four players with double-digit kills. Defensively, MSU had four players reach double figures in digs, highlighted by Peighton Isley's 23, 18 from Shea Hefner, and 14 more from Courtney Fitzgerald.
Brenna Bommer finished with a double-double thanks to a match-high 36 assists and 13 digs.
The Eagles fell behind early, dropping the first set 25-20. Morehead State trailed by as many as eight points as UT Martin grabbed the advantage for good at 3-2 in a set that was tied up three times before the Skyhawks took control.
Morehead State evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-21 victory in set two. The Eagles earned the set victory powered by a strong showing on the attacking end. Morehead State registered a .514 attack percentage with 22 kills in the set win. The Eagles took their first and last lead of the match at 20-19 and rode it to victory.
Morehead State went ahead 2-1 in the match after taking down the Skyhawks in set three. The Eagles survived a back-and-forth set to win 26-24 in a stanza that featured two lead changes and was tied nine times. Neither team opened up a lead of more than four points along the way. The Eagles racked up 21 kills over the course of the set.
Morehead State closed out the match with a 25-22 fourth-set victory, winning their third set in a row. The Eagles trailed by as many as six points, but took the lead for good at 23-22 in a set that showcased three lead changes before the Eagles took over in the second half of the stanza.
LINDENWOOD 3, LITTLE ROCK 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (11-11, 7-4 OVC) swept their second Ohio Valley Conference opponent of the season after defeating Little Rock (6-15, 3-7 OVC) in three sets. The Lions had five players record at least five kills and hit .215 as a team.
Lindenwood dominated the first set on Friday evening finishing with a 25-15 set score. Rebecca Janke was effective in the middle posting three kills on a .500 hitting percentage. Abby VanBuskirk also added six assists to help the Lions.
Little Rock had a 2-1 lead in the first, but never led again as Lindenwood's offense posted a .346 hitting percentage with 11 kills. Defensively, the Lions held the Trojans to a .069 hitting percentage in the set. Addy McAleer added four digs.
Nyah Wilson exploded in set two capturing six kills to help lead the Lions to a 25-21 set win. There were six ties in the set that Lindenwood had to battle through including late in the match at 19-19.
LU ended the second on a 6-2 run to go up 2-0 in Hyland Arena. Lindenwood hit .162 in the set with 14 kills. They also held the Little Rock to nine kills. McAleer was active on the service line with two of her four aces in the set.
The match came to a close on Friday after Lindenwood took the third set 25-20 in rout to a 3-0 sweep. Ashley Geluck led the team in the third with four kills while Anna Kraemer added three more. VanBuskirk also added eight assists and led Lindenwood to a .182 hitting percentage.
Wilson led the way with nine kills while also picking up 10 digs. Libero Jessie Seidel also picked up 14 digs, three assists and two kills in the 3-0 win. Geluck collected seven kills while Janke added six.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois volleyball team won three straight sets to take down Southeast Missouri on Friday night by a score of 3-1 (13-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-14). The win moved the Panthers' OVC record to 10-1 and secured sole possession of first place. They are now 20-2 overall.
The opening set did not go EIU's way, with SEMO leading the entire frame. The Redhawks used eight unanswered points midway through the set to gain what proved to be an insurmountable lead. Natalie Mitchem and Giovana Larregui López both had three kills in the set, but Eastern struggled to find an offensive rhythm, hitting just .059 as a team.
Set two was tightly contested for most of the way through, but after SEMO went ahead 17-16, EIU closed the set out on a 9-3 run that included three consecutive kills from Kate Dean, who led the set with six. Mitchem and Larregui López matched each other again with four kills as Catalina Rochaix handed out 13 assists. Meanwhile, Christina Martinez Mundo recorded a pair of service aces to help ignite EIU's scoring.
The Panther attack really kicked into gear in the third set, during which they recorded a team hitting percentage of .471. Natalie Mitchem led the set with five kills and was closely followed by Larregui López and Dean with four kills apiece. Rochaix had her biggest set of the night with 14 helpers.
Set four was knotted up at 11-11, but the Panthers closed out the match on a dominant 12-2 run to capture perhaps their biggest win of the season. Mitchem once again led the Eastern attack with six kills and EIU improved their team hitting percentage to .266. The Panthers were also helped by six service aces, with Giovana Larregui López and Catalina Rochaix both recording two. Laura Paniagua and Christina Martinez Mundo accounted for the remaining pair of aces.
Natalie Mitchem led the match with 18 kills (4.5 KPS) on a very efficient .412 hitting percentage, while also adding a block to her stat line.
Giovana Larregui López recorded her fourth consecutive double-double with 13 kills and a team-leading 22 digs (5.5 DPS). Her dig total was a new career-high, besting the 20 she recorded against Oakland last season.
Kate Dean also had a solid outing with 12 kills, which matches her career high, on a .360 hitting percentage. She also had two blocks to bring her point total to 13.0.
Catalina Rochaix secured her second consecutive double-double with 43 assists (10.75 APS) and 14 digs. She also recorded a pair of blocks.
Two other Panthers were also in double digit digs, including Christina Martinez Mundo with 16 and Masyn Navarro with 13.
SIUE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball picked up its 11th win of the season against Tennessee State in straight sets on Friday night at First Community Arena. The Cougars, who evened the all-time series 8-8 against the Tigers dating back to 2010, were paced offensively by Priscilla Jones's 10 kills en route to the victory. The set scores were: 25-22, 25-20, and 25-19.
SIUE improves to 11-11 overall and 5-6 against Ohio Valley Conference opponents. TSU falls to 2-19 and 2-9.
The Cougars wrapped the contest with a .247 attack percentage while holding Tennessee State to a .168 clip. SIUE oublocked the Tigers 6-4 while registering six service aces.