MOREHEAD, Ky. - The Morehead State volleyball team battled Michigan State but fell 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-19) Saturday afternoon in Ellis T. Johnson Arena in Morehead, Ky.
 
Morehead State (4-4) was led by Ella Warrick with a match-high 13 kills. Hollan Everett added 10 kills, and Amelia Nott posted nine terminations.
 
The opening set was closely contested with seven ties and three lead changes. Michigan State used a three-point run to take a 15-12 into the technical timeout. The teams traded points, and the Spartans closed out the set outscoring the Eagles 5-3. Michigan State posted a .324 hitting percentage in the opening frame while MSU hit .182. Everett led the Eagle attack with four kills in the opening frame.

The second set was also close, featuring 12 ties and two lead changes. The Spartans got some separation with a three-point run to go ahead 14-11. Morehead State responded with a 4-1 run of its own to even the scored at 15-15. Later another Spartan 3-0 surge pushed the lead to 22-19; the teams played evenly through the balance of the set. Warrick led the Morehead State attack with five kills in the set.
 
Michigan State opened the third set outscoring the Eagles 8-2. The Spartan lead got as large as nine; the Eagles rallied but could get no closer than five points the rest of the way.
 
Michigan State (8-0) was led by Carmen Waye and Alanna Bankston with 11 kills apiece. Waye added six block assists, a new career high for her and posted a .733 hitting percentage.
 

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PURDUE FORT WAYNE 3, WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
NORMAL, Ill. - The Western Illinois Women's Volleyball team played in the Linda Herman Volleyball Classic this weekend, finishing with a 0 and 2 record on the weekend.

The second match on the weekend was against Purdue Fort-Wayne, and was a game that saw 3 very close, back-and-forth sets, which ultimately culminated in a loss for the Leathernecks 3 sets to 0.

The first set went back and forth multiple times, with both teams being tied at 25 at one point during the set. The Leathernecks were in control for most of the set, but the Mastodons got the pivotal 2 point swing when it mattered the most, resulting in a 25-27 win for Purdue Fort-Wayne.

Set 2 was a similar story, with the Leathernecks starting out up 7-0, before the lead slowly started to whittle away. The Leathernecks still did not trail until the score was 13-14, but after that moment the two teams traded points back and forth throughout the rest of the set, which got the score to 21-23. The Mastodons then claimed the final 2 points, which means that the final set score ended up being 21-25.

The third and final set of the match also was highly contentious, with teams trading points back and forth, not one team being able to hold a firm lead. The Leathernecks did lead at one point by a score of 19-16, but the Mastodons were able to have that lead erased with 4 straight points. The teams then traded ties at 20-20, 21-21, 22-22, 23-23, and 24-24, before the Mastodons won 2 straight points to put the final at 24-26. 

The leader for the Leathernecks in kills was Ashlee Markert with 15, almost double the next closest total. Jaleah Bauss led the team with 22 assists, and Kennedy Adair led the team with 9 digs, followed closely by Grace Ulatowski and Ashlee Markert with 8 a piece.
 

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NORTHERN ILLINOIS 3, SIUE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE volleyball wrapped up its opening home stand Saturday afternoon, falling to the Northern Illinois Huskies in three sets. 

The Cougars battled throughout the battle with the Huskies, but were unable to find any kind of offensive momentum. Defensively, Vienna Elliot led the way for the Cougars at the net, recording four total blocks in the match. 

Despite the loss, SIUE concluded the Cougar Classic with an overall record of 2-1, picking up a pair of sweeps Friday. The two victories helped improve the team to 2-7 on the season.
 

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OHIO STATE 3, SOUTHERN INDIANA 1
COLUMBUS, Ohio - University of Southern Indiana fell to Ohio State University on Saturday in a competitive four-set match on the second day of the Sports Imports Classic.
 
The Screaming Eagles drop to 3-6 for the season, adding their sixth road loss. Today's match against the Buckeyes marks the second four-set loss to a Power Four conference opponent after losing to Indiana University on Labor Day.
 
The Screaming Eagles started confidently in the opening set against the Buckeyes. Sophomore Carley Wright tallied six kills to get the USI offense going, while senior Leah Coleman came off the bench to add three kills. Junior libero Audrey Small covered the back row, picking up four kills and leading the defense to get at least one dig from six other teammates, too. Fifth-year Aspen Jankowski gave the team a spark in her role as a serving sub as she landed two aces.
 
Small picked up another five digs in the second frame. Wright tallied three more kills, and senior Ashby Willis dialed up her set-one performance with three kills. The Screaming Eagles competed point-for-point with the Buckeyes up until the 15-point media timeout.
 
Sophomore Aysa Thomas dished out a balanced offense, with 12 assists to get kills to six different teammates. Freshman Aubrey Fair came off the bench for the first time, playing in a road environment in her college career, to record four kills and hit .375 to lead the team. Along with Fair's offensive production, she was one of three Screaming Eagles with four digs, along with Small and Wright.
 
Willis produced her most kills in the final set, putting up a big fight against the Buckeyes with five kills. Coleman landed three kills and put up a big solo block, giving the Screaming Eagles a momentum shift early in the set. Jankowski set a new season high by doubling her ace count from set one for a total of four for the match.
 
For the game, USI tallied six team blocks, led by Coleman with three solo blocks. Wright led the team with 13 kills, followed by Willis with 12, and Coleman with 11. Small led the court with 17 digs, but every USI player who hit the court tallied at least one dig.
 

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EVASNVILLE 3, TENNESSEE STATE 1
EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Tennessee State volleyball captured the second set and received strong offensive performances from Wiktoria Jakubik and Gabrielle Washington before falling to Evansville in four sets Saturday afternoon at the Carson Center.

The Tigers fell 25-15, 22-25, 25-11, 25-20, moving to 0-9 on the season.

Jakubik paced TSU offensively with 12 kills on 25 attacks, hitting .280 while adding two block assists. Washington turned in one of her most efficient performances of the season, finishing with nine kills and just two errors on 16 swings for a .438 hitting percentage. She also contributed four total blocks, including one solo, and an ace.

Sydney Robinson added eight kills, while Melae Lacy recorded four. Triniti Jackson directed the offense with 29 assists while adding two kills, an ace and two total blocks.

After dropping the opening frame, Tennessee State responded with its strongest offensive set of the afternoon. The Tigers totaled 13 kills with just four errors on 24 attacks to hit .375 in the second.

The frame featured 11 ties and six lead changes as the teams battled throughout. TSU ultimately came away with the 25-22 victory to even the match at one set apiece.

Evansville answered in the third, taking a 25-11 victory to regain control of the match.

TSU continued to battle in the fourth and improved its efficiency, committing just three attacking errors and hitting .200. The Tigers kept the frame within reach before Evansville closed out the match with a 25-20 win.

Tennessee State finished with eight service aces, led by Jordan Imperial with a match-high four. Sydni Poston, Italya Carter, Jackson and Washington each added an ace. Imperial also tied Poston for the team lead with six digs.

The Tigers finished with 36 kills, 32 assists, eight aces and 14 block assists. TSU hit .152 for the match, highlighted by its .375 performance in the second set.

Evansville finished with 56 kills and hit .351 to improve to 2-7.
 

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LINDENWOOD 3, ILLINOIS STATE 1
NORMAL, Ill. - The Lindenwood women's volleyball team (7-2) overcame a slow start to defeat Illinois State (6-2) by a score of 3-1 in Normal on Saturday, capping off a successful weekend at the Linda Herman Classic. The Lions registered a total of 64 kills in the match compared to just 37 for the Redbirds.

The Lions led 14-12 in set one before a 3-0 run by the Redbirds pushed Illinois State in front at the first media timeout. Lindenwood was unable to regain the lead, eventually dropping the set by a score of 25-21. The Lions registered four more kills than ISU in the frame but were outblocked 7-0.

Lindenwood pounced out to a 4-0 lead in the second set and never looked back, growing their lead to as many as 16 points on their way to evening the match with a 25-12 win. Bax headlined the LU attack with five kills in the frame.

The Lions carried their momentum into set three, jumping out to another early lead and never trailing as they took the frame by a score of 25-20. Autumn Bax kept the hot hand, growing her kill total to 14 by the end of the set.

Lindenwood trailed 15-13 midway through the fourth frame, but a quick 5-1 run out of the media timeout put the Lions in front and forced the Redbirds to burn a timeout. The attempt to regroup was unsuccessful, as Lindenwood ran away from ISU for another 25-20 win to clinch the match.

Three Lions finished the contest with double digit kills, led by Autumn Bax with 16 kills (4.00 KPS) on a season-best .367 hitting percentage. Susanna Beretti (14 kills) and Ashley Geluck (10 kills) also had strong offensive outings for Lindenwood.

Kaci Johnson put together another fantastic performance, dishing out 46 assists for an average of 11.50 assists per set while tacking on a season-high seven kills and team-leading 16 digs (4.00 DPS).

Mandy Lawson also posted a season-high with 13 digs while Alayna Rudebeck recorded 11 digs and a pair of service aces.