Ohio Valley Conference

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri Volleyball (11-10, 8-1 OVC) dominated Eastern Illinois (6-15, 2-9 OVC) to complete the series sweep on Friday night by scores of 25-23, 25-18, and 25-17 to win their sixth match in a row in league play. 
 
Sophomore Lucy Arndt dominated the Panthers with a season-high 21 kills on 56 total attacks (with just three errors) for an overall hitting-percentage of .310. Arndt chipped in 11 digs as well for her ninth double-double of the season. 
 
Freshman Marin Johnson finished with the second most kills, registering eight on the night, as eight Redhawks recorded at least one kill on the evening. 
 
SEMO outhit the Panthers by a .303 to .155 hitting advantage as three Redhawks hit over .300 with at least three attacking attempts. SEMO totaled 50 total kills on the night compared to just 38 from EIU. 
 
The Redhawks trailed by as many as seven in the opening frame, falling behind by a score of 20-13. SEMO would put together a 7-0 run to force EIU into a timeout at 21-19 before a block from Abby Johnson and Alaina Lester got the Redhawks to within a point. 
 
Back-to-back EIU attack errors gave the Redhawks a 22-21 lead as SEMO stormed back to take a 25-23 set one win off a kill from Marin Johnson. 
 
From that point on it was all Redhawks. In the second set, SEMO gained a 5-4 advantage early off another kill from Marin Johnson. 
 
SEMO led by a score of 11-7 before the Panthers were forced into an early set two timeout. Out of the timeout, EIU registered a kill before SEMO rattled off four points in a row capped off by a kill from Abby. Johnson to lead 14-8. 
 
Alaina Lester recorded a kill with the Redhawks winning 16-12 later in the frame to give the Redhawks a five-point advantage.  
 
A service ace from Ramiri Gardner put the Redhawks on set point as they took the second frame by a final score of 25-18. 
 
SEMO would dominate the third and final frame with a .350 to .139 hitting advantage over EIU to win their eighth OVC game of the season. 
 
Sophomore libero Nina Schuberth continued her defensive masterclass with 20 digs and no reception errors on the night. 
 
Setters Megan Holder and Kennedey Johnson dished out 22 and 17 assists, respectively, as the Redhawks totaled 47 assists as a team on the night.

LINDENWOOD 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (16-7, 10-1 OVC) swept Tennessee State (5-18, 1-9 OVC) for the second night in a row to move to 10-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 8-0 at home. The Lions have won 11 out of their last 12 matches dating back to Saturday, Sept. 12. including seven in a row.

"I thought we did a good job of resetting from last night's match, taking TSU seriously and making adjustments," said head coach Will Condon. "It was a different match as far as what we needed to do to score points. We have done a good job of balancing having fun, playing together as a team, and keeping our attitude business-like. I think we have shown a great deal of composure and staying on track from set to set.  It can be hard to have a really good set and then have to go back out there and be willing to climb to 25 again, but we did a an excellent job of starting over."

Autumn Bax led an offense that had five players with at least five kills. Bax had a team-high 12 kills in the win on 26 swings while hitting .346. Nyah Wilson added 10 kills while Addy McAleer posted nine kills and seven digs. Faith Atkins also had five kills and two blocks.

Allie Otten, coming off a match where she posted her 3,000 career assist, added 37 more to her total helping Lindenwood hit .312 (fifth highest this season). Otten also had nine digs defensively. Her and Wilson both had three service aces each.

Jessie Seidel was the lone Lion with double-digit digs tonight with 12 leading the team that had 49 total. Wilson contributed seven digs while Dana Grib added eight off the bench in the back row.

Lindenwood continued their success from Thursday's match jumping out to a 9-4 lead. The Lions cruised to a 25-16 set one victory after hitting .333 with 16 kills. Wilson and Bax were tied for the team-lead in set one with four kills each. Otten assisted on 15 of the 16 kills.

Tennessee State battled tough in the second set holding the lead until LU tied the match at 21. Lindenwood would go on to score the final five points of the set to take the set two victory by a score of 25-21. Bax had her best set of the night with six kills while Seidel added six digs. Wilson and McAleer both had four kills in set two.

Friday's match came to a close on Friday as Lindenwood shut the door on TSU with a 25-15 set three victory. TSU hit .038 in the final frame with seven attack errors. Lindenwood hit .320 in set three led by McAleer and Ashley Geluck with three kills each.

WESTERN ILLINOIS 3, UT MARTIN 1
MACOMB, Ill. - The Leatherneck Volleyball team won their fifth straight match tonight defeating UT Martin in a very close match that resulted in a four set win. The match was back-and-forth the whole way with every set decided by five points or less. With the win tonight, WIU is now 13-8 overall with a conference record of 7-3. 

Keyana Cruse had another double-double leading the offense with a match-high 18 kills. Brittany Wulf added 14 kills and Elizabeth Ziegler added 9 kills. Defensively, Karli Wenzel had a team-high 18 digs and Julianna Schmidt had a team-high four blocks. 

In set one, the Leathernecks jumped out to an 8-3 lead to start the set behind three kills from Elizabeth Ziegler. The Skyhawks would respond with a 5-2 run to cut the WIU lead to 10-8. Later in the set, a 7-2 run by UT Martin would tie the set at 17. The two teams would trade the next four points evening the set at 19-19. Back-to-back blocks by the Leathernecks would spark a 4-2 run to put WIU in front by a score of 23-21. Julianna Schmidt's kill followed by a Schmidt block assist would help the Leathernecks secure the first set victory by a score of 25-22. 

The start of set two was neck and neck. Keyana Cruse would have three straight kills early in the set tying the score twice. The set saw eight different ties with the last tie coming late in the set at 19-19. A kill by Grace Nichols and back-to-back kills by Brittany Wulf would be the dagger as the Leathernecks would go up 22-19 late in the set. Wulf would add two more kills giving WIU the set two victory by a score of 25-21. 

In set three, UT Martin and WIU would combine to go on three different runs with the Skyhawks having two big runs to give them the set three victory. UT Martin started the third set on a 6-3 run. The Leathernecks would respond with an 8-2 run giving them the 11-8 advantage. During the run for WIU, Brittany Wulf had four kills and Karlie Lane would add a service ace. Trailing 18-15 late in set three, the Skyhawks would go on a 10-2 run to take the third set by a score of 25-20. 

Similar to set three, UT Martin started set four on a 6-3 run. Following a service error by UT Martin, Karli Wenzel would get a service ace to cut the Skyhawk lead at 6-5. The rest of the set would be back-and-forth as the biggest lead during the set would be three. Trailing 14-13, WIU would get huge back-to-back kills from Keyana Cruse to put the Leathernecks up 15-14. WIU would hang on to the lead the rest of the set using a 3-0 run later in the set to put them up 19-16. During the run, Keyana Cruse and Brittany Wulf would get a kill and Elizabeth Ziegler and Julianna Schmidt would team up to get a block. The Leathernecks would end the fourth set on a 4-1 run with a kill from Julianna Schmidt and back-to-back kills by Keyana Cruse to end the set with a 25-23 victory and taking the match three sets to one.

MOREHEAD STATE 3, SIUE 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Led by an efficient attack effort in sets three and four and four aces in set five, Morehead State volleyball pulled off a reverse sweep at SIUE Friday night, handing the Cougars their seventh loss in a five-set match this season.

The crucial comeback win pushed MSU above .500 in the OVC at 5-4 and to 9-11 overall. It marked the program's first win in Edwardsville since 2012 after dropping the last five matches against SIUE on its home court.

After falling behind 2-0, the Eagles responded with a 25-17 win in set three. In set four, MSU trailed 22-21 late but thwarted SIUE's win attempt in the set as it outscored the Cougars 5-2 to pull out a 26-24 triumph. Defensive specialist Courtney Fitzgerald led a rally in the finale with a pair of aces as MSU pulled it out 15-12.

In sets three and four combined, the Eagles had an incredible 32 kills with just two errors. The Eagles tailed 9-7 in set five before Fitzgerald took over on the serve line. She had two aces, fellow back row mate Peighton Isley had one, and MSU had four kills in an 8-3 run to seal the victory.

Four Eagles finished with double digit kills, led by Amelia Nott and Sydney Wyman with 12 each. M.E. Hargan totaled 11, and Maycie Welborn had 10. Hargan also posted her fourth double-double in as many matches with 12 digs, her sixth double-double this season.

After committing 12 errors in the first two sets, MSU cut that total in half for the remaining three frames. 

MSU also got a nice match from freshman Sarah Heath. Seeing her first significant action, and playing all five sets, she had five kills and no errors and added a career-high four blocks.

Although out-dug 76-55 by the home team, Isley's 16 scoops led the team. Setters Sydney Sennett Brenna Bommer both had 24 assists as MSU now has at least 40 assists and 50 digs in 16 of the last 17 matches.

LITTLE ROCK 3, TENNESSEE TECH 1
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - In a nip and tuck battle between two teams jockeying for position in the Ohio Valley Conference, it wasn't the highest-scoring team that fared better, rather the side that made the fewest mistakes. Little Rock was the more efficient of the two, turning 51 Tennessee Tech errors into a 3-1 road win Friday at the Eblen Center. The Trojans (13-10 overall, 8-2 OVC) increased their win streak to five – the longest conference win streak for Little Rock since 2014.
 
Little Rock handed Tennessee Tech (16-5, 5-4) its first home loss of the season while taking advantage of 34 attacking miscues and 13 service errors by the Golden Eagles, who would outpoint the Trojans by a 75-61 margin, but just couldn't get out of their own way. The Trojans gladly allowed the hosts to shoot themselves in the foot, maintaining their grip on third place in the conference standings, a half-game behind second-place SEMO and 1.5 back of Lindenwood.
 
Kaila Harris and A'lanae Margaritha provided huge sparks for Little Rock, coming up with crucial points when the Trojans needed them most. Harris totaled 15 digs, 13 kills and three blocks in her third double-double of the season. Margaritha had eight kills, matched her career-high with seven blocks and added a pair of aces. Sophomore Andrea Roman added 18 digs and six assists while moving into the school record book for single-season digs in the rally-scoring era (432). Roman is now 10th all-time and just 73 digs from the top five. She's on pace to obliterate the program record (541) by year's end.
  
The contest featured 39 ties and 15 lead changes, and neither team led by more than five at any point in the match. Little Rock had a five-point lead in the opening set, while TTU led by five in the fourth. Ironically, neither team would win in the set with its biggest lead. Tennessee Tech opened with a win in the opening set, but Little Rock ripped off three straight set wins. Set scores were 23-25, 25-22, 25-23, and 25-22.
 
Dariana Valencia finished with 21 digs and 20 assists for her 11th double-double and second 20-20 game of the season. Jeila Fullerton had 15 digs and 10 assists for her team-leading 13th double-double, Kaylee Smith had 14 assists and 10 digs for her seventh double-double, and Bella Cherry chipped in nine kills and four blocks.