SATURDAY’S SCORES
Morehead State 3, West Virginia 1 (20-25, 25-16, 26-24, 25-14)
Morehead State 3, @Winthrop 0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-17)
Binghamton 3, Eastern Kentucky 0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-24)
Austin Peay 3, Kennesaw State 0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-13)
@Eastern Illinois 3, Chicago State 0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-21)
UAB 3, @Jacksonville State 0 (25-12, 25-18, 25-19)
UW-Milwaukee 3, SIU Edwardsville 2 (20-25, 28-26, 22-25, 25-23, 15-5)
Austin Peay 3, Loyola 0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-14)
Toledo 3, @Eastern Illinois 0 (25-11, 25-11, 25-18)
Furman 3, Murray State 0 (25-17, 25-15, 32-30)
IPFW 3, Murray State 0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-21)
Tennessee Tech 3, @Ball State 2 (25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 22-25, 15-13)
Southern Illinois 3, Tennessee Tech 0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-23)
Bucknell 3, UT Martin 2 (31-29, 25-22, 17-25, 23-25, 15-10)
Evansville 4, UT Martin 0 (27-25, 25-9, 25-19)
MOREHEAD STATE 3, WEST VIRGINIA 1; MOREHEAD STATE 3, WINTHROP 0
ROCK HILLS, S.C. - The Morehead State volleyball team received several standout individual performances Saturday and knocked off West Virginia 3-1 (20-25, 25-16, 26-24, 25-15) and Winthrop 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-17) to win the Hilton Garden Inn Winthrop Classic. The Eagles went 3-0 in a tournament for the second consecutive weekend and are 6-1 in 2008. Junior Kristina Schoo was named tournament MVP, and senior Katelyn Barbour also landed a spot on the all-tournament team.
Barbour, who is splitting time as the Eagles' setter and as an outside hitter this year, flirted with a triple-double in both matches and came fairly close to an extremely rare quadruple-double against WVU. She handed out 35 assists, had 10 digs and added seven kills against West Virginia while also landing six service aces. Against Winthrop she came within one kill of the elusive triple-double, recording 20 assists, 10 digs and nine kills.
Schoo also put up big numbers on the back row, collecting a team high 26 digs the four-set win over WVU and digging 21 attacks against Winthrop. Schoo tallied 60 digs in the 10 sets this weekend.
Sophomore setter Kirstie Brangers also collected a pair of double-doubles Saturday - her first career double dips. She notched 13 assists and added 12 digs in the WVU victory and returned to record 16 assists and 12 digs versus the Winthrop Eagles.
Senior Ashley Doscher found the double-digit column in kills in both matches, coming up with 12 against WVU and 10 against Winthrop. Sophomore Kaitlin Craven led the Eagles with 13 kills in the first match while adding a season high 17 digs. Redshirt Freshman Emma Keough, who leads the Ohio Valley Conference in blocks, picked up five versus Winthrop and added another two in the WVU contest.
The Eagles had to rally to beat WVU. The Mountaineers took the first set 25-20 when MSU had a slow start offensively. The Eagles committed nine errors in the first set but settled down to commit just 12 in the final three sets. MSU finished off the win by hitting .419 with 15 kills in the fourth set.
The Eagles had 58 kills, 52 assists and a season high 76 digs against WVU while also recording 14 aces.
In the nightcap against Winthrop, the MSU Eagles used a strong defensvie game to defeat the host Eagles. MSU had seven blocks as a team and out-dug Winthrop 61-51. MSU also forced a strong Winthrop offensive team into a .074 hitting percentage for the match. The hosts were in the negative percentages in the final set.
BINGHAMTON 3, EASTERN KENTUCKY 0
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Eastern Kentucky University’s volleyball team ended play at the Pitt Classic today with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-14, 25-14) loss to Binghamton University in Pittsburgh, Pa. The Colonels fall to 1-5 this season while the Bearcats improve to 3-3.
Senior Bridget Mustard led EKU with six kills. Freshman Jill Henneman totaled 19 assists and sophomore Abby O’Connor contributed 14 digs.
Anna Lejina finished with a match-high 10 kills for Binghamton.
The Colonels will have a week off from competition. On Friday, EKU will begin play at the University of Kentucky Tournament with an opening match against Albany at 5 p.m.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, KENNESAW STATE 0; AUSTIN PEAY 3, LOYOLA 0
KENNESAW, Ga. - Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team completed it stay at the Owls Challenge with a pair of three-set victories. The Lady Govs downed host Kennesaw State, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-13), before downing Loyola (Md.) with a 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-14) victory.
Austin Peay (6-2) saw the tandem of junior transfer Stephanie Champine and junior Jessica Mollman return to their form of two weeks ago and each was named to the Owls Challenge all-tournament team. Champine recorded 13 kills in both Saturday matches after being limited to three kills against Butler, Friday. Mollman finished the tournament with 33 kills, recording double-digit kills in each match. Freshman Kayla Grantham was Saturday’s surprise, posting a season-best 15 kills to lead all hitters in the victory against Loyola.
The biggest factor in both the Lady Govs wins, Saturday, was limiting its own errors on offense. In its loss to Butler, Austin Peay’s offense committed 22 attack errors and 11 service errors. In Saturday’s action both numbers were reduced significantly, with 12 attack errors and six service errors against Kennesaw state and 13 attack errors and seven service errors against Loyola.
Austin Peay ? off to its best start since the 1997 campaign when it started 9-1 on the way to a 21-10 final mark ? will have the week off before the Tulsa Invitational, Friday and Saturday, in Tulsa, Okla. The Lady Govs will meet Long Island, Jackson State, Sam Houston State and Tulsa in the four-match tournament.
EASTERN ILLINOIS 3, CHICAGO STATE 0; TOLEDO 3, EASTERN ILLINOIS 0
CHARLESTON, Ill. ?Eastern Illinois split a pair of matches on the final day of the Holiday Inn Express Panther Challenge. EIU defeated Chicago State, 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-21) before falling to Toledo in three sets (25-11, 25-11, 25-18).
Against Chicago State, Alex Zwettler earned double-digit kill numbers with 10. Two newcomers, Madison Barr and Melanie Boykins each tallied eight kills apiece.
Freshman Hannah Deterding ran the offense and registered 25 assists as well as two service aces and block assists. She also registered her first career double-double by tallying 10 total digs.
Defensively, the squad was led by freshman libero Brittany Wallace's 13 ups while sophomore Erin Hake tied Deterding with 10 digs of her own. Melanie Boykins led the blocking game with four.
In the Toledo match, No Panther hit in double figures nor tallied double digit digs numbers, but sophomore Alex Zwettler lead with seven kills, eight digs, two blocks, and had the lone EIU service ace. Senior Lauren Sopcic nailed six kills behind zero errors to hit .545 for the match, and also connected on two blocks as well. Both ultimately represented Eastern on the All-Tournament squad due to their weekend efforts.
UAB 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - The Jacksonville State volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to UAB on Saturday afternoon to conclude the Gamecock Invitational at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Freshman libero Lauren Harkins, who didn’t start the match because of an elbow injury, came in off of the bench to record a match-high 21 digs and all-tournament honors despite the 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-19) loss. The Louisville, Ky., native averaged 46 digs over the three-match event to land on the six-person all-tourney squad.
Sophomore Caitlin Vorbeck led the JSU offense with 11 kills, while junior Brittney Whitten was one kills away from her fifth double-double of the season. The Boonville, Ind., native recorded nine kills and joined Harkins as the only Gamecocks with double-digit digs with 14.
The Blazers (3-2) remained undefeated in the tournament with their win over the Gamecocks (3-4). They were paced by Ivana Bozic’s 13 kills and Nevena Stefanov’s 30 assists. Both players received all-tournament honors.
The Gamecocks will be on the road next week, when they head to New Orleans, La., to compete in a tournament at the University of Tulane.
UW-MILWAUKEE 3, SIU EDWARDSVILLE 2
EAST PEORIA, Ill. - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville went five sets for the third straight match at the Wyndham Classic, falling to Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
SIUE, 2-3, gave the Panthers all it could handle in the match. UWM, which finished 26-3 last season, topped the Cougars 20-25, 28-26, 22-25, 25-23, 15-5.
SIUE setter Mallory Clements was one kills shy of a triple-double against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The senior finished with nine kills, 47 assists and 17 digs.
The Cougars had control of the match early. Down 14-13 in set one, SIUE went on a 10-2 run behind the serving of Sydney Winslow and Emily Rahn.
UWM, 4-2, survived a set point in set two on a service error by Winslow and then use back-to-back kills by Becky Peters to close out the set. Peters led four UWM players in double figures kills with 14.
SIUE grabbed a 2-1 set lead with a push at the end of set three. Winslow and Samantha Schulte blocked set point to put the Cougars ahead.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee pushed back in set four. The Panthers jumped out to an 8-2 lead. SIUE climbed back into a 23-23 tie on a kill by Samantha Schulte. Kills by Kerri Schuh and Mary Beth O'Brien evened the match at two sets apiece.
The Panthers made set five look easy, winning the first five points and cruising to the win.
Winslow led the SIUE with 13 kills followed by 12 from Noelle Franke and 11 from Emily Rahn. SIUE outhit the Panthers in kills 60-57 and were slightly behind in hitting percentage .153-.144.
FURMAN 3, MURRAY STATE 0; IPFW 3, MURRAY STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? Murray State dropped two matches on the final day of the Belmont Tournament. The Racers fell to Furman, 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 32-30) and IPFW, 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-21).
Senior Ashley Nenninger led a balanced attack against Furman with seven kills for the Racers (2-2, 0-0 OVC), while freshman Logan Su and sophomore Sara Hayden each added six. Senior Alison Mugler was the leading defensive player with 19 digs. Freshman Kayleah Sauer was the only other MSU player with double-digits in the digs column, with 11.
Against IPFW, MSU was led by sophomore Sara Hayden, who tallied three total blocks, a .222 (5k-1e-18ta) hitting percentage, three digs, and one service ace.
Sophomore Ashley Nenninger led the team in kills for the second-straight match, with 10. Senior Alison Mugler and Logan Su each added eight kills for MSU, while Mugler tallied a team-high 16 kills.
TENNESSEE TECH 3, BALL STATE 2; SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0
MUNCIE, Ind. ? Tennessee Tech earned a split in the final day of the Ball State tournament. The Golden Eagles defeated Ball State, 3-2 (25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 22-25, 15-13) before being swept by Southern Illinois (25-20, 25-21, 25-23).
Junior Teresa Craig recorded 10 kills and 15 digs against the Cardinals. Four Tech players were in double-digit kills as Amanda Lindgren recorded a double-double with 16 kills and 10 digs. Muncie, Ind. native, senior Kappy Lang had 45 assists in the match, averaging nine a set.
Against Southern Illinois, Tech fell in three tough sets in which Lindgren also led the attack with a match high 12 kills with a .243 hitting. Lang chipped in with four kills on a .571 hitting and 34 assists.
BUCKNELL 3, UT MARTIN 2; EVANSVILLE 3, UT MARTIN 0
CHICAGO, Ill. ? UT Martin dropped a pair of matches on the final day of the Loyola Tournament. The Skyhwaks fell in five sets to Bucknell (31-29, 2-5-22, 17-25, 23-25, 15-10) and were swept by Evansville (27-25, 25-9, 25-19).
In the Bucknell match, UT Martin was led offensively by Noland with 13 kills and a career high 13 from Wilburn. Doherty also chipped in a career high 12 to go along with Clements' career high seven kills. On defense, Breanne Carey matched a season high with 20 digs and the team registered a season high 10.5 blocks.
Against Evansville, Taylor Noland and Katherine Godina led the Skyhawks offensive efforts, each putting down eight kills. Breanne Carey added 16 digs on defense to go along with 10 from both Christen Clements and Emily Steinbeck.