FRIDAY'S SCORES
@Morehead State 3, Tennessee Tech 0
SIUE 3, @UT Martin 1
@Eastern Illinois 3, Southeast Missouri 1
Lindenwood 3, @Tennessee State 0
@Southern Indiana 3, Little Rock 1
MOREHEAD STATE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Morehead State used a solid attack and a stout presence at the net to sweep Tennessee Tech (25-21, 25-23, 25-21) and run their winning streak to seven matches to begin Ohio Valley Conference play Friday in Johnson Arena.
Morehead State (13-5, 7-0 OVC) was led offensively by M.E. Hargan and Hollan Everett. Hargan posted 15 kills, hitting .333, and Everett notched 14 to lead Morehead State. The Eagles posted eight total blocks to six for Tennessee Tech. Bailey Brashear and Hargan led MSU with three blocks apiece.
Tennessee Tech (7-13, 4-4) was led by Bella Powell and Alayna Pierce with nine kills each. Freshman Tuva Falk led the Golden Eagles with three blocks.
The first set was tightly contested from the open. Tennessee Tech used 6-1 run to stretch out to a 13-8 lead. The Eagles responded with a 5-0 run to lead 18-16 and never tied or trailed the remainder of the set. Everett got off to a fast start with seven kills in the set while hitting .462. The MSU attack hit .300 while holding TTU to a .158 hitting percentage.
Set two was another close affair with 15 ties and eight lead changes in the frame. MSU got an early 8-4 lead after a four-point run; Tech rallied to a 10-10 tie. From that point, neither team led by more than two points. Tech was strong up front, posting five blocks in the frame.
The third set was another closely contested frame, with 14 ties and seven lead changes. Morehead State got a three-point run to go ahead 20-17, to give them a cushion. Hargan ended the match with a kill to seal the win. The Eagles posted a .357 attack percentage and four blocks in the frame..
SIUE 3, UT MARTIN 1
MARTIN, Tenn. - SIUE defeated UT Martin in four sets. They swept the first two sets (25-21,25-22) and claimed their win in the fourth set (25-21).
Sophomore Sophie Robinson notched her 11th double-double of the season, leading the Cougars with 13 kills and 10 digs. Junior Paige Bernstein added her fourth double-double of with 24 assists and 12 digs, while Senior Olivia Hogan matched her career high with 25 digs.
Teagan Sullivan matched Robinson with 13 digs hitting at .321 percent. Ally Hughes contributed 18 assists, and sophomore Claire Jones had 15 digs.
SIUE controlled the net with 52 kills and 49 assists. They backed this up with 79 digs, 10 blocks and five service aces. UT Martin tallied 46 kills, six aces, 15 blocks, 39 assists and 61 digs.
The Skyhawks were led by Kylie Surratt who had 20 kills, Ava Peters with 35 assists and Abby Freund with 17 digs.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 1
CHARLESTON, Ill. - The Panthers continue to roll after beating SEMO 3-1 on Friday night. EIU moves to 10-6 (4-2 OVC), while the Redhawks drop to 12-9 (4-4 OVC).
After recovering from a tough weekend at Southern Indiana, the Panthers continue to roll, breaking out of the gate leading 9-0 off the services and kills from Tori Mohesky. Finally, SEMO enters the scoring column when Rochaix recorded a bad set. However, EIU did not panic, extending their lead to 14-5. Panthers would then score the next three of the next four points, pushing them farther in front, 19-8. EIU would go on to close out the first set on a four-scoring run from kills by Destiny Walker, Catalina Rochaix, and Katie Kopshever.
A quick start set the tone for the Panthers once again, running out of the gate in set two with a 7-1 lead. The Redhawks stormed back with a 4-0 scoring run to close the deficit to 10-8. The back-and-forth continued with EIU earning a 3-0 run, followed by a SEMO 4-0 scoring run. With the match at 12-13, EIU extended their lead to 19-14, closed by a SEMO 3-0 run. With the match in the hands of EIU leading 23-19, SEMO scored four in a row to take a late 25-24 lead. The Redhawks closed out the set two thriller 27-25.
With the match tied 1-1, each team settled into the match with a tight set three. EIU held an early 12-13 lead and would continue trying to find separation with a 16-15 lead. The Panthers would answer the bell, gaining momentum with a 3-0 scoring run. SEMO attempted a late comeback, closing in on the deficit 21-22. However, the Panthers would hold on to the win on a 3-0 run by Emma Schroeder, Kopshever, and Rochaix.
Like set three, both teams were battling a tight match, with the set tied 7-7 early on. However, SEMO stunned the crowd, scoring four unanswered with multiple bad sets by Rochaix. EIU would answer the call once again, scoring three in a row, tying it up at 15. After the mid-set comeback, EIU extended the lead to 18-16. SEMO would take their turn scoring multiple kills, taking a late 21-20 lead. The Panthers closed out the set, scoring four out of the five points and winning 25-23.
LINDENWOOD 3, TENNESSEE STATE 0
NASHVILLE - The Lindenwood women's volleyball team (7-9, 3-5 OVC) swept Tennessee State (1-20, 0-8) in Nashville on Friday evening. Three Lions recorded double digit kills in the contest.
Lindenwood trailed 7-5 early on in the opening set, but after using a 6-1 scoring run to gain the lead they never fell behind again, eventually taking the set 25-22. Jade Roth led Lindenwood with five kills on a .400 attack percentage in the frame.
The Lions were in control for the entire second set, leading by as many as nine points on their way to a 25-16 victory. Autumn Bax and Kylee Richey posted five kills apiece to lead LU in the set.
Lindenwood ended the third set on a 14-4 run to close out the match with a dominant 25-14 win. Autumn Bax went off for seven kills in the frame.
Bax ended the match with 15 total kills on a blistering .600 hitting percentage. Joining her with double digit kills were Jade Roth and Kylee Richey with 11 apiece.
Meanwhile, Amelia Thro handed out a career-high 36 assists to help the Lions to a team hitting percentage of .379.
Defensively, Dana Grib led the way with 14 digs while Autumn Bax posted another double-double with 11 scoopers of her own.
SOUTHERN INDIANA 3, LITTLE ROCK 1
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - University of Southern Indiana Volleyball hands University of Arkansas Little Rock its first Ohio Valley Conference loss of the 2025 season, snapping a six-game win streak. The Screaming Eagles move to 4-3 in OVC play and 8-11 overall for the season.
The Screaming Eagles came out strong for the first set, maintaining the lead for the majority of the set. Aysa Thomas dished out 10 assists to get five different Eagles on the board for a kill. Junior Ashby Willis led the team with three kills, picking up seven digs in the back court, too. Sophomore Audrey Small and senior Keira Moore followed with five kills each, helping to keep Little Rock to a .061 hitting percentage.
USI maintained a significant lead for the whole set, finishing with their largest margin of victory in a set for the season at 25-7. Willis completed a 10-point serving run in the middle of the set, with two aces. With 25 team digs and two total blocks, the Eagles held Little Rock to a .000 hitting percentage. Small had her best set, picking up 10 digs in the back row. Thomas held her offense to their most efficient set, with a .378 hitting percentage on 14 kills and zero errors.
Little Rock came back fighting in the third, starting with a 7-0 scoring run. The Eagles tied the game up again by the 13th point, finishing with back-and-forth scoring for the rest of the set. The defense put up four blocks to try and slow the Trojan offense, but Little Rock maintained its most efficient set at a .214 hit percentage.
For the final set, the Trojans and Eagles saw a hard-fought battle for the lead, tying the score 10 different times with five lead changes. Thomas dished out 10 assists, getting kills to five different Eagles. Small picked up another seven digs, leading the court. Senior Bianca Anderson led the team with four kills.
For the game, the Eagles tallied 83 digs, averaging over 20 digs per set. Small picked up 26 digs for the second game in a row to tie her season high. The team recorded 11 total blocks, the highest they've had since the opening OVC match at Morehead State University.
OVC Freshman of the Week, Thomas, completed her 12th double-double in a row with 35 assists, 14 digs, and managed to sneak three kills in. Three different Eagles finished with 10 kills, including Willis, Anderson, and junior Leah Coleman.