FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Tennessee Tech 3, Southern Indiana 0
@Morehead State 3, Eastern Illinois 1
@Tennessee State 3, Western Illinois 2
@SIUE 3, UT Martin 0
Southeast Missouri 3, @Lindenwood 2
TENNESSEE TECH 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Recap coming soon.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 1
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State Volleyball put on a defensive clinic against Eastern Illinois Friday evening at Johnson Arena, turning back 18 Panther attempts as the Eagles closed their home schedule and celebrated Senior Day with a 3-1 triumph.
MSU led 22-17 late in the first set but a 6-0 EIU run turned the tide, and the Panthers claimed the opener 25-23. But, then the defense stepped up. EIU managed to landed 25 kills the rest of the match but made 23 errors, including negative or .000 attack totals in sets two and three combined. MSU closed the match with 25-11, 25-15, 25-17 wins.
MSU's (14-13/10-6 OVC) 18 blocks was te most by an Eagle team in eight seasons, tying the 2016 squad's 18 against Tennessee Tech on Oct. 28 of the year. Sophomore Amelia Nott contributed heavily to the cause, notched a career-high 11 blocks, including 10 block assists (which ranks fourth in single-match program history).
Maycie Welborn and Sydney Wyman each swatted six EIU shots, while M.E. Hargan and Irene Wogenstahl had five blocks apiece.
Offensively, setter Sydney Sennett turned in her ninth career double-double with 20 assists and 13 digs. Setter Brenna Bommer handed out the remaining 26 assists as MSU landed 53 kills and hit .237.
Wyman was indefensible, smacking down 11 kills with zero errors for a career-best .733 hitting percentage, while Welborn reached double figures for the seventh time in eight matches with a team-high 13 terminations. Wogenstahl added 10 kills.
Hargan nearly missed a double-double with nine kills, and libero Peighton Isley led the Eagles with 18 digs. Courtney Fitzgerald made it back-to-back double-digit dig matches with 12. MSU also registered 10 service aces.
TENNESSEE STATE 3, WESTERN ILLINOIS 2
NASHVILLE - Jazmin Vergara and Jayla Holcombe both registered double-doubles to help lead the Tennessee State volleyball team to a 3-2 victory (25-20, 20-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-13) over Western Illinois on Friday evening at Kean Hall.
The victory improved the Tigers' record to 9-20 overall and 5-11 in OVC action.
The Tigers were led by double-doubles from both Vergara, who had 11 kills and 20 digs, and Holcombe, who had 16 kills and 11 blocks. Maygan Miller-Garcia also added 10 kills to help the attack. On the defensive end, Hadley Pride chipped in for with 28 digs to go with 12 blocks from Storm White.
SIUE 3, UT MARTIN 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE (12-15, 7-9 OVC) won 3-0 against UT Martin (5-20, 3-13 OVC). Set scores were 25-23,27-25,25-22.
First Community Arena was packed with friends and family as the Cougars honored their seniors: Ainsley Ranstead, Corinna Jones, Kyndia Smith, Alyse Drifka, Sydney Hummert, Gabi Andrade, Nicole Medlin and their student manager of three-years Nate Current for senior night. This match marked the last home game for their 2024 season.
SIUE had 42 total kills that were spread across the team. Smith led the team with nine kills hitting at a .467 clip. Medlin and Hummert followed with eight kills apiece. With Medlin hitting at a .368 hitting percentage and Hummert contributing five digs.
Ainsley Ranstead had six kills and three service aces. Following her was Bree Shreimann and Taya Nordmann who had five kills apiece.
Drifka led the charge for the Cougars with 20 assists and Jones tallied 15 assists. Andrade also had a strong performance with nine digs.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, LINDENWOOD 2
ST. CHARLES, Mo. Southeast Missouri Volleyball (16-12, 13-3 OVC) moved into sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Lindenwood (18-10, 12-4 OVC) from Hyland Arena on Friday night.
Sophomore Lucy Arndt finished the night with 20 kills, marking her third match of the season with 20-plus kills. Arndt finished with 56 total attacks, with just six errors, for a .250 hitting-percentage.
For Arndt, Friday night marked her 14th double-double of the season as she closed the match with 10 digs. She has recorded 20-plus kills and 10-plus digs in three matches this season.
Outside hitter Marin Johnson was the only other Redhawk to finish in double-digits as she chipped in 12 kills on 52 total attempts for a .154 hitting mark (four errors).
As a team, SEMO outhit the Lions by a .215 to .194 hitting advantage. The Redhawks won the match with scores of 25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 16-25, and 15-10 including an impressive .333 to .050 hitting edge in the final set.
In the fifth set, Lucy Arndt got the Redhawks on the board first with a huge kill off the assists from Kennedey Johnson.
Arndt's first kill would spark a 6-1 run to start the fifth set from the Redhawks, including a Lindenwood timeout. A kill from Autumn Bax would make it 6-2 Redhawks nearing the midway point.
Arndt would then trade kills with the Lions as her kill made it 7-2 before LU would respond with a kill of their own to make it 7-3, SEMO.
A beautiful pass, set, and kill capped off by freshman Alaina Lester would make it 8-3 Redhawks as the teams would swap sides in the final set. Lester finished her night with eight kills, no errors, and 19 total attacks for a team-high .421 hitting-percentage.
After three-straight Lions points, the Redhawks would burn a timeout with an 8-6 advantage and would immediately score out of the break. Setter Megan Holder found Marin Johnson who went off the LU block to make it 9-6 Redhawks.
The kill from Johnson was the start of a 3-0 run from SEMO as Kennedey Johnson dialed up an ace (10-6) before rightside hitter Avery Torrey took a pass from Ken. Johnson to make it 11-6 SEMO forcing LU into a timeout.
The teams would split the next two points as LU scored out of the break before another Marin Johnson kill made it 12-7 as SEMO was three points away from the win.
LU would get as close as 12-9, but the Redhawks would close on a 3-1 run capped off by Arndt's 20th and final kill that went off the LU block and out of play for the 15-10 set five win.
The setters Megan Holder and Kennedey Johnson each recorded 20-plus assists. Holder led the way with 24 as Johnson was just behind her with 21.
Avery Torrey led the team in blocks with 2.5, as the Redhawks out blocked LU by a 9-8 margin.