Ohio Valley Conference

MOREHEAD, Ky. - Southeast Missouri Volleyball (8-10, 5-1 OVC) defeated Morehead State (8-10, 4-3 OVC) on Friday night by winning the match, 3-1, inside Johnson Arena. 

Semo continued their recent dominance against the Eagles and have now won six of the last seven matchups. Tonight's win was in large part thanks to ten service aces.

Sophomore Lucy Arndt led the Redhawks on offense posting 11 kills from 44 total attacks (.136). She also sent back three swings on the defensive side. Abby Johnson and Ramiri Gardner also notched ten and eight kills from attacking percentages of .286 and .538.

SEMO continued their rotation of setters with Freshman Megan Holder and Graduate Kennedey Johnson dishing out 39 out of 47 total assists. 

The score was tied 1-1 after the second set with the Redhawks winning set one 25-22 and the Eagles winning set two 25-22. MSU led in kills 29-27 but the Redhawks held the advantage in attacking percentage with a .282 clip. Abby Johnson had a team high seven kills from 16 attacks.

The third set began with a giant solo block by Marin Johnson and the Redhawks jumping to a quick 3-0 and 9-4 lead. SEMO dominated the set with 11 kills and only four errors for a .379 kill percentage. 

Abby Johnson painted the line to put the Redhawks up 15-11 then SEMO would go on a 11-4 run to end the set. During the run Gardner notched three kills in a row and two service aces.

Kennedey Johnson ended the set on an ace for the fifth SEMO ace of the set and a final score of 25-15.

The fourth set was back and forth until a block from Alaina Lester and Lucy Arndt promoted a MSU timeout at a 13-8 score. 

After the timeout SEMO ended the game on a 12-6 run. A beautiful set from Megan Holder to Arndt put the Redhawks up by eight ultimately ending the contest. 

SEMO then doubled the eagles at 20-10 from a Marin Johnson skip set kill. The Redhawks secured their win on a service ace from Abbey Richman.

Nina Schuberth held down the fort on the defensive side of the ball, recording 28 digs during the match. At the net SEMO put up 14 total blocks with the most (5) coming from Lester.

LITTLE ROCK 3, TENNESSEE STATE 2
NASHVILLE - Little Rock rode a roller coaster of efficiency Friday in a conference road match against Tennessee State, but held on for the duration of the ride to earn the prize at the end … a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Tigers at Kean Hall Gymnasium. The Trojans (11-10 overall, 6-2 OVC) notched their third straight victory and equaled their win total from last season, when Little Rock finished 11-19.
 
Tennessee State fell to 5-15, 1-6 and the visiting Trojans will look to complete the series sweep tomorrow afternoon when the teams meet again at 2 pm. There will be no streaming available but live stats can be accessed on LRTrojans.com.
 
Jeila Fullerton led the team in kills (16), digs (20) and blocks (5), recording her team-best 11th double-double of the season. Bella Cherry hit .316 while finishing with 14 kills while Dariana Valencia (24 assists, 17 digs), Kaylee Smith (18 assists, 11 digs) and Andrea Roman (15 digs, 11 assists) also reached double-doubles.
 
Little Rock opened up a 5-2 lead in the opening set, but a 9-0 run by TSU gave the host team the lead for good. The Trojans trailed by as many as 13 and hit just .088 compared to .265 for the Tigers, dropping the set by a 25-13 score. In the second set, the Trojans stormed back, taking an early 11-4 lead. TSU closed the gap to one at 20-19 before Little Rock ripped off four straight to force a set point. TSU responded with four points to close the margin to 24-23, but Fullerton served an ace and Harris clinched the set with a kill. Fullerton finished with eight kills in the set.
 
TSU jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the third set but the Trojans bounced back to tie it at 10-10. The set would see seven additional tie scores until the Tigers put together a 4-0 run to take a 23-19 lead before closing out at 25-20. TSU would lead briefly in the fourth set at 3-2, their only lead of the frame. Little Rock strung together a 7-1 tun to take an 18-12 advantage. Cherry had seven kills in the set, which the Trojans won 25-18. In the final set, Little Rock never led by more than three but also never trailed. Crismeyli Rodriguez (7 kills, .294 hitting) closed the book on Friday's match with a kill.
 
A'lanae Margaritha played an effective all-around game, finishing with seven kills on .250 hitting to go with three blocks and three aces. Valencia had a team-high four aces while Jaycee Kennedy added a pair of blocks.
 
With 10 games to play in the regular season, Little Rock equals its 2023 win total and is just two conference wins shy of matching their total from last season, when the Trojans finished 8-10 in OVC play.

WESTERN ILLINOIS 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - The Leatherneck volleyball team made a statement tonight winning their third straight match in sweeping fashion, defeating Southern Indiana in three sets. The Leathernecks are now 11-8 overall with a 5-3 conference record. 

The offense was balanced tonight for WIU as Keyana Cruse finished the match with 12 kills followed by Brittany Wulf (11 kills), Julianna Schmidt (8 kills), Elizabeth Ziegler (8 kills), and Grace Nichols (7 kills). Defensively, Karli Wenzel had a match-high 36 digs and Julianna Schmidt had 3 blocks. Wenzel now ranks 3rd all-time in program history in career digs and is only 62 digs away from being second all-time. 

Set one was back-and-forth the entire set with the biggest lead being five. WIU would score six of the first seven points in the opening set with two kills coming from Keyana Cruse and back-to-back aces coming from Maggie Craker. Southern Indiana would follow that by going on a 7-1 run to tie the set at eight. Later in the set, three straight kills from Cruse would give the Leathernecks some breathing room taking a 16-12 lead halfway through the set. The Screaming Eagles would once again go on another run to cut the WIU lead to two at 18-16. The two sides would battle the rest of the set as WIU would get to set point five different times and USI would get to set point three different times. The Leathernecks would end the first set on a 4-1 run with kills from Elizabeth Ziegler, Brittany Wulf, and Julianna Schmidt to give WIU the first set win by a score of 32-30. 

In set two, USI would go up by as much as six at 17-11. The Leathernecks would get back into the set using a 4-0 run to cut the Screaming Eagle deficit to 17-15 thanks to kills by Julianna Schmidt and Kennedy Adair. Following a Southern Indiana timeout, WIU would go on a 7-4 extended run to take the set lead at 22-21. During the run, Julianna Schmidt would have 3 kills and Grace Ulatowski added a service ace. The Leathernecks ended set two on a 3-0 run to take the set by a score of 25-22. 

In set three, the Leathernecks would make a statement and beat Southern Indiana by a score of 25-14. WIU was in control for the entire set going up by as much as 11 following a Brittany Wulf kill. USI would go on a 4-1 run late, but in the end it was the Leathernecks taking the third set and sweeping the Screaming Eagles.

EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois volleyball team earned their second consecutive conference win with a convincing 3-1 victory over Tennessee Tech on Friday evening in front of an electric home crowd inside Groniger Arena. The final set scores were as follows: 25-22, 11-25, 25-18, 25-18.

Eastern fell behind by as many as six points in the opening set, but flipped the script halfway through the frame and went on an 11-3 run to take a late three-point lead. Tennessee Tech cut the lead back down to one, but EIU finished strong scoring four of the last six points to secure the set. The Eastern attack was led by a trio of players with three kills, including Destiny Walker, Katie Kopshever, and Lilli Amettis.

The Golden Eagles came out strong in the second set and scored five points before the Panthers could get on the board. TTU continued to build on their lead throughout the set as Eastern struggled to find a rhythm, and ultimately evened the match at one set apiece. Walker led the Panthers with another three kills in the frame.

Set three was tight in the early going, featuring three lead changes and nine tied scores. However, after Tech evened things at eleven apiece, EIU ripped off an 8-2 run to give themselves a comfortable six-point advantage. The Panthers would keep the Golden Eagles at arm's length for the remainder of the frame on the way to taking a 2-1 match lead. Walker continued to lead the EIU attack with six more kills.

Eastern came out on a mission and the fourth set and cracked open a 7-0 lead right out of the gates. Tech refused to go down without a fight, however, and clawed their way back to within one point before the Panthers regrouped for a 5-1 lead that placed them firmly back in the driver's seat. EIU was then able to stave off any TTU rallies to win the set and secure their second straight conference win.

Destiny Walker headlined the EIU offense for the second time this week, this time posting a team-high 16 kills. She was followed by Lilli Amettis and Matilda Dahlström with seven kills apiece, and Kaitlyn Flynn with six terminations.

Catalina Rochaix handed out 22 assists to lead the Panthers, while Laura Paniaugua anchored the defense with 15 digs.

Julia Stanev led EIU in blocks with five total, including two solo rejections.

LINDENWOOD 3, UT MARTIN 0
MARTIN, Tenn. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (13-7, 7-1 OVC) picks up their fourth straight Ohio Valley Conference victory with a win over UT Martin (3-12, 1-5 OVC) by a score of 3-0. The Lions have posted three straight sweeps and have won eight out of their last nine matches.

On Friday evening, Lindenwood capitalized on the Skyhawks' errors after they posted 26 attack errors and 10 service errors. Lindenwood limited UT Martin on offense holding them to a .115 hitting percentage. The Lions' offense had 34 kills while hitting .197.

Autumn Bax and Addy McAleer both had a team-high eight kills in the win. For McAleer, it was her most kills in her last six matches. As a team, Lindenwood was able to spread the ball around with six people registering multiple kills. Faith Atkins off the bench provided a spark with a career-high three kills while hitting .600.

Allie Otten led the Lions attack with 26 assists and her fourteenth double-double after collecting 10 digs. Jessie Seidel led the defense adding a team-high 13 digs, she continues her streak of having double-digit digs in every match. Ashley Geluck's six blocks led the way as the team tied their season-best performance with 10 total blocks.

Lindenwood jumped out to a 10-4 advantage in the first set before UT Martin stormed back to tie it. After a Lindenwood timeout, the Lions and Skyhawks went back and forth for the majority of the set. LU was up 23-22 before closing out the set 25-22. Geluck had three kills and three blocks in the opening frame.

The second set saw Lindenwood post their best offensive numbers with 12 kills while hitting .303. The Lions closed the set on a 5-1 run to go up 2-0 heading into the third. McAleer and Bax both had three kills while Otten added 10 assists.

The first meeting between these two clubs came to a close on Friday after the Lions ended the third winning 25-22. Bax had four kills while hitting .375 in the third and Atkins added two kills and one solo block. UTM hit .041 in the final set with nine attack errors.