Ohio Valley Conference

NASHVILLE - The Tennessee State volleyball team wrapped up the Tiger Invitational with wins over South Carolina State (3-1) and Bethune-Cookman (3-1)

In Saturday's morning contest, TSU fought back after dropping set one to secure a 3-1 win (22-25, 25-15, 25-14, 25-21) over South Carolina State. 

The Tigers attack was paced by Celestial Miller, who finished with 13 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of 0.25, and by Jazmin Vergara, who had 10 while hitting .269.Miller also pitched in with five in the contest. Defensively, had two players reach double figures in digs as Hadley Pride had 21 and Sagaia Reilly had 10. From the front row, Maygan Miller-Garcia contributed six blocks.

The Tigers came up short in a back-and-forth first set, losing 25-22 in a game that featured five lead changes and was tied 13 times. Neither team led by more than three points in the match.

Tennessee State responded to pick up a 25-15 victory in set two, evening the match at one set apiece. The Tigers led from the opening point on in the set to earn the victory. Tennessee State opened its biggest lead of the stanza, 10 points, to close out the set.

Tennessee State grabbed another win in the third set to go up two sets to one. The Tigers won the set 25-14. Tennessee State took the lead for good at 7-6 in a set that showcased two lead changes before the Tigers took over the lead. The Tennessee State offense also got a boost from four aces in the stanza.

Tennessee State earned a match win with a 25-21 fourth-set victory, winning their third set in a row. The  Tigers took the lead for good at 7-6 in a set that had just one lead change before the Tigers took over the lead. Tennessee State also supplemented their offense with four aces in the set. Tennessee State got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked four South Carolina State attacks in the stanza.

BALL STATE 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
CHICAGO STATE 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 1
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Volleyball (2-7) concluded the Indiana Invitational with two matches at Wilkinson Hall against Ball State University and Chicago State University. USI dropped the morning match against the Cardinals (23-25, 17-25, 17-25) in three sets. The Screaming Eagles concluded their weekend with a narrow loss against Chicago State (17-25, 21-25, 25-21, 18-25) in four hard-fought sets.
 
After tallying 26 assists against Ball State, senior Carly Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Indiana) surpassed 2,000 career assists. She becomes the ninth Eagle to accomplish this incredible achievement. 1,400 of those assists have occurred in 2023 and 2024 as Sobieralski continues to improve.
 
Head coach Jeffrey Aucoin and assistant coach Julianna Cramer matched up with their former school on Saturday morning. Aucoin played for the Cardinals in 2013 before starting his coaching career. Cramer also competed for Ball State in 2022, along with a year stint as the Cardinals Director of Operations in 2023.
 
The Eagles mounted a late six-point comeback but fell short in a nail-bitter first set, 23-25. Junior Bianca Anderson (Chicago Heights, Illinois) carried her strong Friday night into Saturday with three straight kills to mount an 8-6 lead. Sobieralski tallied a monstrous 11 assists, but still found themselves down 16-21. Next, USI exploded for a 6-0 run taking advantage of four Cardinals errors. However, Ball State finished the set on a 4-1 run to gain the early advantage.
 
Ball State dominated the Eagles in set two with 17 kills opposed to USI's nine, 17-25. Sophomore Ashby Willis (Mount Carmel, Illinois) smashed two early kills before the Cardinals went on a four-point run to earn a 9-5 lead. The Eagles could never string a run longer than two points to drop set two.
 
USI committed a match-high nine errors in a set three loss, 17-25. Five different Eagles including seniors Paris Downing (Avon, Indiana), Jasmine Green (Rockwall, Texas), Abby Weber (Fishers, Indiana), Anderson, and Willis all tallied kills in set three. However, nine errors opposed to the Cardinals four was the difference in the third set sweep.
 
Willis led the Eagles in kills at nine for the third match this season. Sobieralski's historic day included her sixth double-double of the season at 26 assists and 11 digs. Junior Keira Moore (Newburgh, Indiana) earned a team-high 18 digs and Downing swatted four blocks.
 
As a team, USI finished with 31 kills, 30 assists, 43 digs, five blocks, two service aces, and a .100 attacking percentage. The Cardinals finished with 49 kills, 47 assists, 55 digs, nine blocks, three aces, and a .300 hitting percentage.
 
USI lost their sixth-straight set one in this gauntlet road stretch, 17-25. The USI senior duo of Downing and Sobieralski combined for a textbook block to tie the set at seven. The Cougars countered with a dominant 10-1 scoring run that was the difference in set one.
 
Chicago State's early run buried the Eagles in a two-set deficit, 21-25. Six straight powerful Cougar kills sent the Eagles scrambling into a 12-5 hole. 11 dimes from Sobieralski helped the Eagles get within three points. However, the early hole proved to be unrecoverable.
 
The Eagles put all the pieces together in set three, winning 25-21. Senior leader, Downing erupted for her best set of the season giving the Eagles an early 12-10 lead with three kills and two blocks. Chicago State added a 9-3 run on the back of setter Wiktoria Zagummy who finished with 45 assists. Sophomore Leah Coleman (Hoover, Alabama) came alive firing home three kills as USI took a 21-19 lead after the 6-0 run. USI has struggled to finish sets lately but switched the script earning the final three points to win set three. Moore perfectly placed two service aces to conclude the set.
 
USI was over matched in set three as the Cougars tallied 19 kills opposed to the Eagles nine, losing 18-25. Anderson, Coleman, Downing, Sobieralski, and Willis smashed kills to build a 11-8 lead. USI struggled to stop the Cougars scoring in bunches as they finished on a 17-7 run to conclude the match.
 
Willis led the Eagles in kills at ten for the fourth match this season, while Sobieralski set up the Eagles for 34 assists. Moore earned a team-high 19 digs and Downing swatted four blocks for the second straight game.
 
As a team, USI finished with 43 kills, 40 assists, 57 digs, seven blocks, two service aces, and a .140 attacking percentage. The Cougars finished with 61 kills, 53 assists, 68 digs, 12 blocks, six aces, and a .244 hitting percentage.

FLORIDA GULF COAST 3, LITTLE ROCK 0
DRAKE 3, LITTLE ROCK 0
OXFORD, Miss. - Little Rock will look to end its weekend on a high note after suffering back-to-back losses Saturday during the Ole Miss Invitational at the Gillom Athletics Performance Center. The Trojans dropped to 5-4 this season after 3-0 losses to both Florida Gulf Coast and Drake, leaving Little Rock to try and snap a four-game slide Sunday when it faces host Ole Miss tomorrow at 2 pm. The match can be streamed live on SECN+.

The Trojans opened with a Saturday morning match against Florida Gulf Coast (7-1), falling by scores of 25-20, 25-15, and 25-22. Little Rock hit just .077 in each of the first two sets and .144 for the match with a season-low 38 points.
 
Kaila Harris led the offense with 10 kills, Jeila Fullerton had eight on .304 attacking, Dariana Valencia finished with 15 assists (and two aces) and Kaylee Smith added 10. Fullerton led the team with 10 digs as well as two blocks, Andrea Roman had eight digs and Harris added seven. Cherry also had two blocks.
 
The Trojan attack struggled again in the afternoon session, hitting just .129 against Drake (2-6) while falling short by scores of 25-20, 25-19, and 25-19. Cherry finished with a team-high 10 kills, Hernandez was second with eight, Fullerton added six and Harris had five along with Sophia Garrido. Valencia had a team-high 22 assists and Smith added 14.
 
Defensively, the Trojans were led by Roman's 14 digs, Smith had 10 to complete a double-double and Garrido had two blocks. Valencia fell one dig short of a double-double but totaled nine for the match. Fullerton finished with eight digs.

WESTERN ILLINOIS 3, BELMONT 0
FARGO, N.D. - The WIU Volleyball team ended the North Dakota Classic with a win sweeping Belmont in three sets by scores of 25-19, 25-20, 25-19. The Leathernecks were balanced offensively with Brittany Wulf and Elizabeth Ziegler having 13 and 12 kills respectively. Karli Wenzel led the way defensively finishing the match with 30 digs. 

In the first set, Belmont jumped out to a 7-3 lead. WIU would respond by going on a 5-0 run to take the lead at 8-7. During the run, Keyana Cruse had 2 kills and Karli Wenzel had a service ace. The Leathernecks would never trail in the set again, going up by as much as 8 at 20-12. Brittany Wulf would have 4 kills in the set as the Leathernecks would go on to take the set 25-19. 

In the second set, WIU would again trail 7-3 to start the set. The Leathernecks would go on a 3-0 run that included a Karli Wenzel ace to force a Belmont timeout early. Belmont would come out of the timeout on a 2-0 run to go up 9-6, but WIU would end the Bruin run by going on 3-0 run of their own to tie the set at 9. Later in the set, back-to-back kills by Brittany Wulf and Elizabeth Ziegler would give the Leathernecks a 13-12 lead and WIU would not look back as they would go up by as much as 6 at 19-13. The Leathernecks would end up taking the set 25-20. 

In set three, WIU would have 18 kills as a team. Elizabeth Ziegler would have 7 kills in the set to lead the way for the Leathernecks who would take the set 25-19 and sweep Belmont 3-0.

KANSAS CITY 3, UT MARTIN 1
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The last nonconference match on the University of Tennessee at Martin's 2024 volleyball schedule took place today as the Skyhawks showed fight but fell by a 3-1 margin (17-25, 27-25, 25-19, 18-25) to defending Summit League regular season champion Kansas City at the Mizzou Invitational.
           
Kayla Bryant and Kristin Phillips shared the team lead with 11 kills this evening as Phillips additionally tacked on a team-best three blocks. Addy Vaughn hit .583 with seven kills (zero errors in 12 swings) while Kylie Surratt nearly reached double-digit in the kills column with nine. Katie Cruise handed out 37 of UT Martin's 44 assists while the tandem of Dylan Mott (team-best 15 digs) and Dylan Sulcer (career-high 11 digs) set the tone for the Skyhawks defensively.
           
Back-to-back kills from Vaughn and Bryant gave UT Martin (2-7) its first lead of the match at 9-8 but the Roos scored six unanswered points and never relinquished the advantage from there. The Skyhawks did pull within one point at 15-14 but Kansas City scored 10 of the final 13 points of the set. Bryant had four kills while Vaughn earned three kills on three attacks.
           
The Roos (2-6) used a 6-1 run midway through the second stanza to gain the upper hand in the second stanza. Phillips slammed down three kills in the span of four UT Martin points to pull the Skyhawks within striking distance but Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the match. Phillips' four kills led the way for UT Martin in the second set.
           
The Skyhawks sided out at a phenomenal 84 percent (16-of-19) and hit .379 in a convincing victory during the third set. Phillips had a hand in four consecutive points (two kills, one solo block, one block assist) to aid UT Martin to an 8-3 advantage as the Skyhawks led by as many as seven points down the stretch. Bryant and Surratt both had four kills on a .600 attack percentage while Cruise handed out 11 assists in the third set alone.
           
In the fourth set, the Roos were responsible for 10 of the first 15 points but UT Martin kept plugging away and eventually pulled within three points at 20-17. However, Kansas City concluded the match with five of the final six points to deny the Skyhawks an opportunity at a fifth set. Phillips and Cruise topped UT Martin with four kills and 10 assists, respectively, in Set 4.

EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 0
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Southeast Missouri volleyball (3-6) fell in the final match of the Chippewa Invitational on Saturday morning to Eastern Kentucky (6-3) by a final score of 3-0. 
 
The Colonels won the match with scores of 25-18, 25-20, and 25-23 as they outhit the Redhawks by a .234 to .131 advantage. Sarah Mitchell led the Colonels with 12 kills on 42 total attempts. 
 
Two different Redhawks finished the day with double digit kills as Lucy Arndt and Abby Johnson each finished with 10 kills. Arndt recorded a double-double as she recorded 10 digs as well to go along with her kills. 
 
Arndt was one of three Redhawks who recorded double digit digs in the match, led by libero Abbey Richman who recorded 14. Setter Megan Holder was second with 11 digs, and she dished out a team-best 20 assists. 
 
The Redhawks, who had a great tournament at the net on the defensive side of the net, lost the blocking battle as the Colonels utilized an 8-2 block advantage on Saturday morning. 
 
The match was tied 17 different times, all 17 coming in the second and third set, and featured 10 different lead changes over the final two sets. 
 
In the third set, the Redhawks made it difficult late in the frame as SEMO took a 20-17 lead into an Eastern Kentucky timeout. 
 
The Colonels would respond out of the break to tie the set at 20 a side. A SEMO error followed by an Abby Johnson kill retied the match at 21. 

The match would be tied one more time at 22 all, thanks to a kill from Marin Johnson and EKU's Carson Ledford, but from that point on SEMO mustered one more point. 
 
An attack error from EKU on set point made the score 24-23 Colonels, but a kill by Ledford sealed the deal as they held on for the 25-23 set three victory.

MOREHEAD STATE 3, EVANSVILLE 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State volleyball team secured a three-set victory (25-19, 25-15, 25-10) against the Evansville Purple Aces Saturday at home at Johnson Arena. The Eagles closed the Comfort Inn-Vitational with a pair of victories.

The non-conference win improved Morehead State's overall record to 4-5 on the season.

Junior M.E. Hargan finished with 12 kills on the day to lead the Eagles attack while finishing with a hitting percentage of .267. Junior Sydney Wyman was hard to contain as well. She smashed eight kills and did not commit an attack mistake for a .889 hitting efficiency. Senior Maycie Welborn also had a productive day, landing six kills with no errors charged.

Defensively, the Eagles had two players reach double figures in digs as sophomore setter Sydney Sennett had 11 and senior libero Peighton Isley had 10.

Morehead State displayed a balanced offense all throughout the match and kept the Aces out of system. MSU hit a season-high .352 as a unit and had nine aces while allowing just one ace to the Aces. Evansville was held to just 10 points in the final set, and four of those came on MSU service errors. Meanwhile, the Eagles served five aces across the net in the final set.

The Eagles jumped out to an early lead, easily winning the first set 25-19. Morehead State never trailed by more than five points and grabbed the advantage for good at 13-12 in a set that had just one lead change before the Eagles took over the lead.

Morehead State carried momentum from a set-one win by securing a 25-15 victory in set two. The Eagles took control of the set lead early on at 5-4 and never looked back. Morehead State opened its biggest lead of the stanza, 10 points, to finish off the set. The Morehead State offense also got a boost from three aces in the stanza. Morehead State's front row had a solid defensive performance, blocking four Evansville attacks in the stanza.

Morehead State then ended the match with a victory in set number three. The Eagles scored first and never trailed in the set to secure a 25-10 victory. Morehead State ended on a high note, claiming its biggest lead, 15 points, to finish off the set. The Morehead State offense also got a boost from five aces in the stanza. The Eagles had 14 kills and just two errors in the set.

SIUE 3, BELLARMINE 2
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball (3-6) goes against the Bellarmine Knights (2-7) to wrap up their final game of the Cougar Classic Tournament. The Cougars and Knights battled through all five sets, with SIUE winning sets one, four and five (25-22, 25-19,23-21) and Bellarmine winning two sets (25-19, 25-22).
 
This evening matchup was the Cougars first five set wins. Set five went point for point, Cougars almost closed it out at the point 17. Bellarmine challenged this final point for an in/out overturning the point tying the game at 17 again. Once again, the Knights and Cougars went point for point.
 
Overall, the five-set game allowed for two double doubles. Ainsley Ranstead had 13 kills hitting at a .265 clip, and 10 digs. Alyse Drifka had 22 assists and 12 digs. These are the fist double doubles of the season for the Cougars.

TENNESSEE TECH 3, RADFORD 0
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Another weekend meant another tournament title and 3-0 record for the Tennessee Tech volleyball team, as the purple and gold picked up their eighth sweep of the season over Radford to win the Golden Eagle Invitational presented by Holiday Inn of Cookeville on their home court.  

The Golden Eagles (9-0) extended the program's record for consecutive wins to start a season behind yet another stellar offensive showing, tallying 47 kills and 10 service aces in the three-set win. Tech set the tone right out of the gate, progressively pushing its lead further and further until it secured a 25-15 victory.

The Highlanders (3-6) made things interesting in set two, bouncing back from a five-point deficit on a pair of occasions and taking a lead of their own at 19-18. Tech quickly squashed that idea, moving back in front and keeping just enough distance for a 25-22 set win.

The Cookeville crew exploded out of the gates in the third set, moving out front 6-1 and leading by as much as 20-10. Radford again mounted a comeback bid, scoring seven straight points and eventually pulling to within two points.

Again, the Golden Eagles held things off, slamming the door closed with a 25-21 win. A trio of the purple and gold produced double-digit kills while five combined for the team's impressive total of 10 aces.

Leading the way while securing her third straight MVP honor in as many weekends was senior outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen. The veteran piled up a match-high 14 kills while hitting .296 with seven digs. She also dropped in three more service aces, passing Cara Craig Church for fifth on Tech's all-time career rankings with 132.

Collecting All-Tournament honors along with Isringhausen, junior setter Jordan Karlen doled out 31 assists on the day, chipping in three kills, three aces of her own, and four digs. Also on the All-Tournament Team was senior libero McKenna Young, who chalked up 13 digs, four helpers, and an ace.

Senior middle blocker Elena Wallace racked up a season-high 10 kills while smashing an eye-popping .600 while senior outside Bella Powell contributed 10 kills, two blocks, and a .381 attack. Senior libero Aleeya Jones produced 12 digs while rookie outside Alayna Pierce supplied six kills, two assists, seven digs, and a pair of aces.

LINDENWOOD 3, AUSTIN PEAY 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (4-4, 0-0 OVC) swept Austin Peay (1-7, ASUN) in three sets to close out the Lindenwood Invitational on Saturday at Hyland Arena. The Lions went 2-0 on the weekend after defeating Southern Illinois on Friday in five sets.

Offensively, the Lions spread the wealth with five Lions picking up at least five kills against APSU. Addy McAleer led the way with a team-high 10 kills on .267 hitting with only two errors. The outside hitter also had nine digs, just one shy of a double-double.

Nyah Wilson was the most efficient Lion with a .364 hitting percentage while collecting nine kills. Wilson was second one the team in digs as well with 16. Autumn Bax, coming off a season-high 18 kills, had seven on Saturday. Linenwood had 41 kills and hit .302 as a team.

Setters Allie Otten and Abby VanBuskirk split duties as passers in the Lions offense earning 19 and 15 assists each. VanBuskirk was also effective from behind the service line with three aces. LU ahd nine aces against the Governors. Jessie Seidel led the way defensively with 22 digs.

Lindenwood took the opening set on Saturday by a score of 25-19. The Lions hit .211 in the first with 11 kills while holding APSU to a .139 hitting percentage. McAleer had four of her kills in the set while VanBuskirk added six assists and Seidel added seven digs.

Bax came alive in the second set as the Lions won 25-18. She posted six of her seven kills in the set pacing the Lions to a .359 hitting percentage. Lindenwood took advantage of six attack errors from Austin Peay. Wilson added four kills in the second.

The Lions cruised to 25-14 set three victory giving the Lions their first sweep of the season. McAleer and Wilson combined for seven of Lindenwood's 15 kills in the third to secure the victory. Lindenwood's defense held APSU to a .025 hitting percentage.

Wilson, Seidel and Bax were all named to the Lindenwood Invitational All-Tournament Team for their performances this weekend.

BRADLEY 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 2
PEORIA, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois Volleyball team (3-4, 0-0 OVC) dropped their match against Bradley (3-6, 0-0 MVC) in Peoria on Saturday night. Strong showings from Tori Mohesky and Karli Mann led the Panthers in another five-set battle. The final set scores were 17-25, 25-20, 18-25, 25-17, and 12-15.

The Panthers took an early 2-1 lead in the opening set, but an 11-1 Bradley run gave the Braves an advantage that proved too much to overcome for EIU as they fell behind 1-0. Freshman Karli Mann led the Eastern attack in the frame with four kills.

EIU came out strong in set two to gain a 3-0 advantage, but the Braves answered back by scoring 11 of the next 15 points to open up an 11-7 lead.  The Panthers clawed their way back, and after tying the game on a few separate occasions, eventually overtook Bradley 18-17 before sprinting to a 25-20 set win. Sylvia Hasz dished out 13 assists in the set as Tori Mohesky posted five kills.

Bradley responded in the third set as they jumped out to a quick 6-1 lead. The Panthers closed the gap to two, but were unable to come any closer as the Braves held off Eastern to take a 2-1 match lead. Matilda Dahlström had a big set offensively with five kills.

EIU punched right back with a dominant performance in the fourth set which they led by as many as 12 points on their way to evening the match at two sets each. Tori Mohesky led EIU with four kills in the set to add to her strong performance.

In the deciding fifth frame, Eastern got out to an early lead, but following six ties, Bradley ended the set on a 15-12 run to win the set and match.

Tori Mohesky and Karli Mann led the Panthers attack with 15 kills apiece. Mohesky also added three service aces and a block to her scoring efforts while Mann posted three blocks.

Matilda Dahlström also had a strong showing with 12 kills and four blocks.

Meanwhile, Sylvia Hasz posted her second consecutive double-double with 38 assists and 10 digs.

Julia Stanev a force at the net for the panthers with a match high seven blocks.