Ohio Valley Conference

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The name Tuva Falk may not have gained notoriety in the Ohio Valley Conference yet, but Tennessee State certainly felt her impact on Saturday as the Tennessee Tech freshman put on an impressive showing, leading the Golden Eagles to a 3-1 victory over TSU at the Hooper Eblen Center.

Falk finished the day with a career-high 13 kills on 29 swings, hitting .414 in the contest. She also had five assisted blocks to end the day with 15.5 total points.

Bella Powell had a double-double in place in the second set, ending the outing with 15 kills on 35 attacks for a .314 clip, three service aces, 22 digs and two blocks. Jordan Karlen ended the match with 40 assists and 11 digs for a double-double as well, while MK Roberts had 19 digs and Ella Watford 10 to go with three service aces and three assists.

Tech improves to 7-11 overall and 4-2 in the OVC, while Tennessee State continues to look for its first league victory, 1-19 overall and 0-7 in the league.

Maygan Miller-Garcia led TSU with 10 kills, a solo block and an assisted block, while Carsyn Stansberry had seven kills, two service aces, three digs and an assisted block. Erini Bitsaktsi had 22 digs to lead the way, while Sagaia Reilly had 24 assists.

Tennessee State came out on a mission and led nearly the entire first set with 10 tie scores, the last time at 24-24 as an attack error on the Tigers knotted the set. A Tech service error put TSU back on top, then Miller-Garcia collected the kill to give TSU the 26-24 win in the opening set.

The Tigers also seemed to shake up a hornet nest as the Golden Eagles dominated the next three sets – 25-11, 25-14 and 25-15 – as Tech collected extended stays on the serve.

In set two, Powell was up for five straight, Watford for 12 straight and Brooklyn Rapp for a trio. Powell collected seven kills and eight digs in the second set. Watford had three service aces, then Powell had three straight aces in the third.

The third saw Watford on three straight serves, Falk on four, Powell for four and Roberts for six. The Tigers were stymied by seven attack errors, five service errors and three reception errors as Tech only had 10 kills in the set.

Falk closed the door in the fourth as she had five kills on 10 swings and two assisted blocks, while Alayna Pierce had four and Ayanna Rodgers three to prevent any chance of a TSU recovery. Watford had another six-rally tenure on the serve to break the Tigers' early momentum.

MOREHEAD STATE 3, LINDENWOOD 0
ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Morehead State used a balanced attack and another strong net presence to sweep Lindenwood 3-0 (25-19, 27-25, 25-23) Saturday afternoon in Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo.

Morehead State (11-5, 5-0 OVC) was led by Sarah Heath, who posted a career-high 14 kills hitting .333. M.E. Hargan finished with 11 kills, hitting .233. The Eagles posted a 5-4 edge in blocks. Hollan Everett, Amelia Nott and Bailey Brashear each tallied two total blocks on the day.

Lindenwood (6-9, 2-5 OVC) got three straight aces from Alayna Rudebeck to kick off the match to take an early 3-0 lead. Morehead State went on a 5-point run to go ahead 13-8. The Lions responded by outscoring the Eagles 8-3 to tie the set at 16. Nott slapped back-to-back service aces to move the Eagles ahead 22-18 and MSU was able to close out the set on Sarah Heath's fourth kill of the frame.

The second set was tight from the start: there were 12 ties before the Eagles were able to take back-to-back points to inch ahead 14-12. The Eagles went on a three-point run to move ahead 17-13, highlighted by Nott's third service ace of the afternoon. The Lions responded with a three-point run to tie the set at 19. The Eagles held off one Lion set point and closed out the set with a three-point run to go up 2-0. In all, there were 16 ties and nine lead changes in the frame.

The third frame was closely contested as well. The Eagles got a three-point run to get some breathing room at 14-9. Lindenwood held off six set points before Morehead State clinched it with a Lindenwood service error.  

The Lions were led by Kylee Richey with 12 kills. Autumn Bax added 11, and Ashley Geluck posted 10 terminations.

LITTLE ROCK 3, SIUE 1
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Behind a career-high 11 blocks from senior captain Jaycee Kennedy, plus a balanced scoring attack including four players with at least 11 kills, Little Rock took the second game at SIUE on Saturday and remained unbeaten in conference play, winning by scores of 18-25, 25-18, 25-20, and 28-26, at First Community Arena.
 
The Trojans improved to 11-7 overall and 6-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference while SIUE fell to 9-9 and 4-3. Little Rock had its streak of 14 consecutive set wins snapped in the opening frame, thanks to a slow start that saw the Trojans hit just .086 in the first set. But Little Rock cleaned it up quickly and attacked better than .280 in each of the following three sets, finishing at .242 for the match.
 
A'lanae Margaritha led Little Rock in points with 16.5 behind an all-around effort, including 11 kills, four aces, and three blocks. Crismeyli Rodriguez had a team-high 14 kills and finished off a double-double with 17 assists. Bella Cherry (11 kills, seven digs) and Vivian Lucumi (11 kills, four blocks) solidified the offensive effort. 
 
Dariana Valencia (28 assists, seven digs) and Kaylee Smith (21 assists, seven digs) were pivotal on both sides of the ball. Kennedy surpassed her previous best of 10 blocks with 10 assists and one solo. Sophia Garrido, Cherry, and Rodriguez each had three.