Ohio Valley Conference

SATURDAY'S RESULTS
Tennessee Tech 3, Delaware State 0 (Charlotte, N.C.)
Dartmouth 3, Lindenwood 1 (Boston, Mass.)
Morehead State 3, Radford 2 (Richmond, Ky.)
Charleston Southern 3, Tennessee State 0 (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
@North Dakota State 3, SIUE 1
Eastern Illinois 3, @Southern Illinois 0
Missouri State 3, @UT Martin 0
Southeast Missouri 3, Lehigh 0 (Murfreesboro, Tenn.)
@#10 Florida 3, Southern Indiana 0
UIC 3, @Western Illinois 1
Wichita State 3, Little Rock 1 (Fayetteville, Ark.)
 

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TENNESSEE TECH 3, DELAWARE STATE 0
CHARLOTTE, N.C.  - Two weekends into the 2024 campaign, the Tennessee Tech volleyball team remained unbeaten following a 3-0 sweep over Delaware State Saturday afternoon that lifted the purple and gold to the Charlotte Invitational crown.

The Golden Eagles (6-0) captured their second tournament title in as many weeks while also securing their fifth sweep of the year. Tech's 6-0 start to the year represents the best since the team opened the 1983 season with a 7-0 mark.

The offense was once again a bright spot for the Cookeville crew, who used superior results from the attack to make quick work of the Hornets (1-5). Tech collected a 41-24 advantage in kills and hit .238 compared to .044 for Delaware State.

It took some time for the purple and gold to find its footing in the first set, as the Hornets made it challenging the whole way. The Golden Eagles seemed to find some room with a 23-19 lead, but the closed the gap to just a single point at match point before Tech outside hitter Alayna Pierce turned in the set-winning kill.

Set two was smooth for the Cookeville crew, building a quick 10-point lead and keeping the distance on the way to a 25-16 victory. DSU made things interesting with a 15-15 tie in the third set, but the Golden Eagles found their stride and ended the match with a 10-3 run for a 25-18 win.

Pierce was the start of the day for Tech, leading the match with a season-high 13 kills while hitting an impressive .444. She chipped in two block solos and four digs as well.

Senior outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen secured MVP honors of the Charlotte Invitational, her second MVP nod in as many events, tallying 10 kills two more aces, and five digs. Joining her on the All-Tournament Team, fellow senior outside Bella Powell tacked on 10 kills while smashing .412.

Also earning a place on the All-Tournament Team, senior libero McKenna Young racked up a match-high 17 digs to go along with six assists and an ace. The Murfreesboro, Tenn. native moved into a tie for ninth on Tech's career charts for service aces with Dee Dee Malone (1988-90), boasting 117 so far.

Junior setter Jordan Karlen continued her hot start to the season with another 31 assists, chipping in five digs for good measure.

DARTMOUTH 3, LINDENWOOD 1
BOSTON - Lindenwood women's volleyball (2-4, 0-0 OVC) dropped their final match at the Northeastern Tournament with a 3-1 loss against Ivy League opponent Dartmouth (1-1, 0-0 Ivy). The Lions struggled on offense hitting .080 with 32 attack errors in four sets.

Anna Kraemer led the Lions with 11 kills on Saturday morning posting her second match of the season with over 10. Nyah Wilson also had 10 kills and 10 digs in the loss giving Wilson her second double-double this year. LU's offense had five different Lions post over six attack errors.

Dartmouth's defense caused Lindenwood attackers to hit into 11 blocks and limited the Lions to a .080 hitting percentage which was their lowest of the season. Lindenwood hit over .100 twice in four sets on Saturday.

Although the Lions struggled on offense, Lindenwood did have 13 service aces which tied the program's NCAA record set in 2015 against Harding. Jessie Seidel and Lexi Menne led the team with four aces each. The team posted seven of their aces in the second set.

Lindenwood trailed by as many as six points in the first set, but battled back eventually tying the set at 23-23. The Lions' struggled the final two points of the match with two errors by Kraemer resulting in a 23-25 Dartmouth set win. LU hit -0.022 in the first set.

The Lions bounced back in the second with a 25-20 set win. Lindenwood had just nine kills in the second but punched down seven aces to secure the set point. Dartmouth had three service errors in the second set.

Dartmouth controlled the final two sets on Saturday defeating the Lions 23-25 and 19-25. Lindenwood had a chance to take a 2-1 lead in the third set after leading by as many as seven points, but Dartmouth stormed back eventually closing out the set with 15 kills.

Setter Allie Otten had 34 assists, 17 digs (team-high) and six kills in the loss. Seidel also collected 14 digs while Dana Grib added another 10. Lindenwood had five Lions collected over 10 digs each.

MOREHEAD STATE 3, RADFORD 2
RICHMOND, Ky. - Leading 2-0, things looked swell for the Morehead State volleyball team Saturday against Radford. But the Highlanders won the third set and a marathon fourth frame to force a deciding set. The Eagles used a 5-0 run late in the set to claim the win and top RU 3-2 in their final match of the Geri Polvino Invitational at EKU.

Four Eagles (2-3) reached double figures in kills, led by junior M.E. Hargan with 16. She also turned up 11 digs for her 10th career double-double. Senior Maycie Welborn landed 14 spikes, while sophomore Hollan Everett had her second straight 10+ kill effort with 12. Graduate student Irene Wogenstahl smacked 10 kills as the Eagles finished with 64 terminations on 158 swings and a .241 attack total.

Defense also rose to the occasion as the Eagles piled up a season-best 12 blocks. Wogenstahl and redshirt junior Sydney Wyman each denied six Highlander swings. Wyman also served up four of the Eagles' nine aces.

MSU won 25-19 in the first two sets, then fell 25-22 to lead 2-1. Despite a 21-18 advantage late in the fourth frame, Radord forced extra points and eventually won 33-31. 

The Eagles trailed 10-9 in the fifth, but a RU serving error started a 5-0 run that redshirt junior Shea Hefner ended with an ace.

Morehead State had to withstand a 28-kill day from Radford's Sydney Mundkowsky. She took 62 swings in the match, more than two times the next Highlander's attack total. The Eagles also benefited from 20 service errors by Radford.

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 3, TENNESSEE STATE 1
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Tennessee State volleyball team jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but couldn't hang on and fell 3-1 (25-20, 16-25, 19-25, 17-25) to the Charleston Southern Buccaneers Saturday to conclude the Chattanooga Classic. 

The Tigers offense was paced by Maygan Miller-Garcia, who finished with 11 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of .292, and by Celestial Miller, who had 10. Defensively, had two players reach double figures in digs as Hadley Pride had 14 and Alizaysha Sopi had 12.

The Lady Tigers took control of the set-one lead at 5-4 and held the lead the rest of the way to win 25-20. Tennessee State led by eight points at 21-13 before finishing off the set, collecting 17 kills along the way.

Tennessee State dropped set two 25-16 to tie the match 1-1. Tennessee State trailed by as many as 10 points as Charleston Southern grabbed the advantage for good at 4-3 in a set that was knotted up three times before the Lady Buccaneers took over the lead.

Tennessee State fell again in the third set to make it a 2-1 deficit. The Lady Tigers fell in a tough set 25-19. Tennessee State trailed by as many as six points as Charleston Southern grabbed the advantage for good at 19-18 in a set that was tied up five times before the Lady Buccaneers took over in the second half of the stanza.

Tennessee State lost set four and the match, falling 25-17. The Lady Tigers fell behind on the first point and never clawed back into the lead before losing the set.

NORTH DAKOTA STATE 3, SIUE 1
FARGO, N.D. - The Cougars (1-5, 0-0 OVC) took on NDSU (1-4, 0-0 MVC). The Cougars took the first set against the Bison 25-20. SIUE fell to the Bison in the final three sets 26-24, 25-29, 25-18 giving the Bison their first win of the season.
 
The Cougars finished off the ND/NDSU tournament going 0-3. They faced off with both UNI and NDSU for the first time in Cougars volleyball history.

EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 0
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The Eastern Illinois volleyball team (3-1, 0-0 OVC) swept Southern Illinois (4-2, 0-0 MVC) in Carbondale on Saturday afternoon to secure a perfect record at the Saluki Bash. The Panthers got a strong performance from freshman Katie Kopshever on their way to the 3-0 victory. The final set scores were as follows: 25-22, 25-22, 25-12.

In a competitive opening set, the Panthers trailed 17-18 before a quick 4-0 run gave EIU a late three-point advantage. The Salukis pulled back within one, but Eastern Illinois took three of the last four points to secure the set win. Katie Kopshever led the Eastern attack with six kills in the frame.

The second set was another tight battle, with the sides finding themselves in a 19-19 stalemate before EIU found another gear to finish the frame on a 7-3 run and take a 2-0 lead in the match. Kopshever scored the final three points for the Panthers on her way to eight kills in the frame.

The Panthers dominated in set three to complete the sweep and close out a perfect weekend in Carbondale. Kopshever kept things going in the frame with another six kills to bring her match total to 18 (6.00 KPS) on a .444 attack percentage.

She was followed by fellow freshman Destiny Walker with nine kills, while Ireland Hieb and Karli Mann posted seven kills apiece.

Catalina Rochaix continued to set up the EIU attack with 34 assists (11.33 APS) while racking up a team-leading 15 digs for her third consecutive assist-dig double-double.

Kopshever also posted a double-double with 12 digs, while Laura Paniagua recorded her third straight double-digit digs performance with 10 on the afternoon.

MISSOURI STATE 3, UT MARTIN 0
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, LEHIGH 0
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Southeast Missouri volleyball (2-4) picked up their second win of the Middle Tennessee State tournament on Saturday afternoon against Lehigh (4-2) in the first meeting between the two schools. 
 
SEMO swept the Mountain Hawks, 3-0, for their first sweep in a match in 2024 behind 11 kills from Lucy Arndt. The Redhawks won 26-24, 26-24, and 25-17, respectively to pick up the second win of the season. 
 
In the third set, SEMO led 23-17. Arndt hammered home her 10th & 11th kills of the match to secure the victory. She finished with a .108 hitting-percentage. 
 
Three other Redhawks finished with nine total kills in Marin Johnson, Ramiri Gardner, and Abby Johnson as the Redhawks hit .235 as a team compared to just .185 from the Mountain Hawks. 
 
Setter Jenny Shook continued her strong performance in the MTSU Tournament as she dished out 26 assists on 58 total attempts for a .448 set-percentage. She recorded a service ace as well. 
 
Nina Schuberth, who is the single season record holder for service aces, aced the Mountain Hawks twice in the match as SEMO posted seven service aces as a team. Arndt and Megan Holder added in two more, along with Shook, as they held a 7-2 advantage over Lehigh for aces. 
 
The Redhawks snatched the first set 26-24 as Arndt and Ramiri Gardner combined for eight-of-14 kills in the set. SEMO outhit Lehigh by a .188 to .143 mark to take the early lead in the match. 
 
Winning 23-22, Gardner slammed home a kill to make it 24-22. With the Redhawks on set point, Lehigh forced extra points with a SEMO error and a kill of their own to tie it at 24. Gardner would slam home her fourth kill, followed by a Lehigh error to give SEMO the set win. 
 
The second set was the only set that Lehigh outhit SEMO in the match with a .261 to .190 advantage, but the Redhawks capitalized on four service errors from Lehigh to take the second set by the same margin as the first set, 26-24. 
 
This set, Lehigh led 24-23 and were on set point in the second frame before two huge moments from freshmen Alaina Lester & Megan Holder. Lester recorded a kill to tie it at 24 which was followed by an ace from Holder and the Redhawks led 25-24. An error from Lehigh gave SEMO the set victory, and a 2-0 lead in the match. 
 
The third set was all Redhawks as SEMO outhit Lehigh, .379 to .138, behind five kills from Arndt and four from Abby Johnson.
 
Gardner & Arndt picked up back-to-back kills to start the set, and from there, Lehigh never gained the lead as SEMO won, 25-17.

#10 FLORIDA 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 0
UIC 3, WESTERN ILLINOIS 1
MACOMB, Ill. - The WIU Volleyball team dropped their final game of the Hampton Inn Leatherneck Classic this afternoon by a score of 3-1 against UIC. The Leathernecks were led by Brittany Wulf on offense as she ended with a game-high 14 kills. Defensively, Keyana Cruse and Karli Wenzel both had 15 digs to lead WIU.

The first set was dominated by the Leathernecks as they would go on multiple runs to win 25-14. During their 5-1 run early in the set, Elizabeth Ziegler and Brittany Wulf would have back-to-back kills followed by a Karli Wenzel ace to give the Leathernecks a 10-5 lead. Later on in the set, Ziegler and Wulf would again have back-to-back kills as a part of a 5-0 run to give WIU a commanding 22-13 lead. 

In the second set, WIU trailed 19-13 but rallied late to tie the set at 21-21 following a Brittany Wulf kill and a Karlie Lane ace. WIU would then go on to take the lead in the set after a Grace Kremer kill gave the Leathernecks a 24-22 lead. UIC would go on a 4-0 run following the Kremer kill to take the set 26-24. In the third and fourth sets, WIU would again mount a comeback in each set but UIC would go on to win both sets 25-18 and 25-20.

WICHITA STATE 3, LITTLE ROCK 1