SATURDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 3, Coppin State 0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-15)
@Auburn 3, UT Martin 0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-13)
Morehead State 3, Wright state 1 (15-12, 25-16, 21-25, 25-18)
Morehead State 3, UNF 0 (25-19, 25-21, 25-17)
Central Arkansas 3, Murray State 0 (26-24, 25-23, 25-21)
Southeast Missouri 3, Western Illinois 1 (25-18, 25-13, 23-25, 25-22)
Miami (Ohio) 3, Jacksonville State 0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-22)
Clemson 3, Tennessee Tech 0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-18)
Jacksonville 3, Tennessee Tech 2 (12-25, 25-23, 17-25, 25-20, 15-9)
Austin Peay 3, UALR 2 (21-25, 25-15, 25-20, 23-25, 15-8)
Austin Peay 3, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 0 (25-22, 25-12, 25-17)
Ball State 3, SIU Edwardsville 0 (25-23, 25-20, 25-18)
SIU Edwardsville 3, The Citadel 0 (25-18, 25-13, 25-13)
@Belmont 3, Jacksonville State 0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-22)
Southeast Missouri 3, Bradley 1 (15-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-17)
@Wyoming 3, Murray State 1 (25-20, 27-29, 25-21, 25-20)
EASTERN KENTUCKY 3, COPPIN STATE 0
CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Eastern Kentucky earned its first win of the season by beating Coppin State, 3-0, on Saturday at the VB Rags Western Carolina Invitational. The Colonels improve to 1-2 on the season.
The Colonels picked up a 25-16 victory in the first set. EKU had 17 kills, just three errors and hit .412 in the second set on its way to a 25-13 victory and a 2-0 lead. Eastern finished off Coppin State with a 10-point win (25-15) in the third set.
Eastern Kentucky hit .313 for the match while the Eagles had a .076 attack percentage. The Colonels totaled 44 kills and had just 13 errors while CSU had 21 kills and 14 errors.
Lauren Snyder led EKU with 12 kills to go along with a .259 attack percentage. Freshman Ashley Edmond contributed 11 kills, six digs and two block assists. Freshman setter Robyn Hench played two sets and finished with a match-high 22 assists. Abby O'Connor led all players with 18 digs.
Ashley Saunders posted a team-high 10 kills for Coppin State.
MOREHEAD STATE 3, WRIGHT STATE 1; MOREHEAD STATE 3, UNF 0
ATLANTA, Ga. - Against Wright State, Emma Keough, Holly Evans and Kaitlin Craven each led MSU with 10 kills. Craven hit .300 and also had 12 digs and five aces. Liz Schuler continued her stellar back row play with a team high 27 digs. Annie Gruenschlaeger notched seven blocks, while Evans had six. Kirstie Brangers handed out 36 assists. The Eagles piled up 13 aces and had 67 digs.
The Eagles opened up the first set on a 9-1 run before the Raiders halted the Eagles' momentum. A quick two points from WSU didn't mess up MSU's rhythm too much, however, as Schuler served up two aces and Evans had two kills in 5-0 run to push MSU's advantage to 14-3.
The Raiders picked up the next four points to climb back to within 14-7, but freshman Lindsey Roth tallied two aces and sophomore Ellie Roberson landed a kill to switch the momentum back to the Eagles' side. MSU went on to win the opening set 25-12. The Eagles hit .333 in the opening set with 10 kills and only three misfires. Gruenschlaeger added three blocks and Evans notched two rejections. The Eagles also collected five points via aces.
MSU began the second frame in much the same fashion, opening up a quick 6-1 advantage. MSU continued to build its lead, pushing it out to 16-5 after Gruenschlaeger's first solo block of the match. After the Eagles led 21-10, WSU scored the next three before an emphatic Evans' kill stopped the mini-rally. The Eagles eventually won the set 25-16.
The Eagles piled on 14 kills with just three errors in the second set, hitting .250. Schuler collected 10 digs in the set.
The Raiders claimed the early advantage in the third set, going ahead 9-5. MSU had three kill attempts blocked and one fall short into the net. MSU cut the WSU lead down to three, but the Raiders pushed it out again to 20-12. After an Eagle timeout, MSU came out on an 6-1 run to creep to within 21-18, but the Raiders were able to hold on for the 25-21 win.
MSU committed 10 attack errors in the third set, while WSU landed 15 kills with six errors.
The third set shifted back to MSU as it opened up a 10-4 early lead. The Raiders kept it within reach, but MSU gradually was able to increase its lead and march closer to sealing the match. The Raiders crept to within 23-18 before the Eagles scored the final two.
Against UNF, Holly Evans and Emma Keough topped MSU with 11 kills apiece and each hit better than .400. Annie Gruenschlaeger tallied eight kills but hit .357 to go along with four blocks. Liz Schuler led the defense with 17 digs, while Kirstie Brangers dished out 31 assists.
UNF was led by Paige Pidgeon with 14 kills and a .355 attack effort. Jessica Catelano had 10 kills.
In winning the first set 25-19, the Eagles hit .265 and collected 16 kills with just seven errors. Gruenschlaeger tallied three blocks and also led the Eagles with four kills via a .429 attack effort.
MSU claimed the second set 25-21. The Eagles hit .271 with 19 kills. Evans landed six kills, while Schuler came up with 10 digs, marking the third straight match she had tallied at least 10 digs in one set. The Ospreys' offense generated 15 kills with just one error for a .389 attack total.
MSU went through the final set much the same way it did the first two. The Eagles built a double digit lead and held on to keep the Ospreys at bay. MSU hit higher than .300 with 12 kills.
For the match the Eagles hit .286 with 48 kills and 40 digs.
CLEMSON 3, TENNESSEE TECH 0; JACKSONVILLE 3, TENNESSEE TECH 2
CLEMSON, S.C. - Tennessee Tech finished off the Big Orange Bash with a 3-2 loss to Jacksonville in what turned out to be a see-saw battle. The Dolphins won the match with set scores of 25-23, 25-20 and 15-9, falling short on sets one and three with scores of 12-25 and 17-25. Tech also absorbed a 3-0 loss to Clemson in its first match of the day.
Against Jacksonville the Golden Eagles took the first set easily as they dominated throughout en route to a 25-12 victory. Senior outside hitter Leah Meffert, Marie Peddicord (middle blocker) and sophomore middle blocker Kelsey Gray each chipped in with three kills to lead the team for the win.
The Dolphins responded in the second with a 25-23 victory that went right down to the wire. Meffert and Peddicord continued to pace the offense as they tallied seven and five kills each.
TTU answered right back in the third set as they posted seven total blocks and forced 10 attack errors en route to a 25-17 victory.
In the fourth set, Jacksonville came up with a 25-20 win to force a final fifth set. The Dolphins completed the comeback as they took the fifth set, 15-9.
"We played two good, clean sets," head coach John Blair said. "Hopefully they got a taste of what they're capable of."
Peddicord lead TTU on the offensive side as she tallied 15 kills on 18 attempts for a .722 hitting percentage. Meffert posted 15 kills, while freshman defensive specialist Allison May led the team in digs with 11. Senior setter Melanie Culp ended the match with 35 assists.
The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles lost the first of their two final matches of the Clemson Big Orange Bash to Clemson 3-0.
Tennessee Tech shouldered the loss to Clemson by the scores of 25-13, 25-12 and 25-18 to start the day. Meffert lead the Golden Eagles with nine kills, while May led the team in digs with 12.
Tennessee Tech opens its 2010 home schedule against Belmont Tuesday.
AUSTIN PEAY 3, UALR 2, AUSTIN PEAY 3, TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Austin Peay State University's volleyball team wrapped up its stay with a pair of victories, Saturday, at the Mississippi State Maroon Classic. The Lady Govs defeated Arkansas-Little Rock, 3-2 (21-25, 25-15, 25-20, 23-25, 15-8), in the morning's contest before posting a three-set sweep (25-22, 25-12, 25-17) of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the nightcap.
Austin Peay (3-1) used a balanced scoring attack in the day's first contest against UALR, with four players reaching double-digit kill territory. Sophomore outside hitter Nikki Doyle led all hitters with 19 kills, senior middle blocker Taylor Skinner and junior outside hitter Ilyanna Hernandez each added 15 kills and junior outside hitter Kayla Grantham chipped in 10 kills.
Arkansas-Little Rock (0-3) grabbed the first set by capitalizing on four straight Austin Peay attack errors en route to a 7-1 lead which it held on to for the first set victory. The second set was a close affair until the Lady Govs used runs of 6-0 and 7-1 to break the set open and run to a 25-15 victory, tying the match.
After the break, UALR and APSU were again locked up in a tight battle but the Lady Govs scored eight straight points to turn a 11-13 deficit into a 19-13 lead. The Trojans would close to within three points, 23-20, but the Lady Govs were able to get the match's last two points to seal the victory. Austin Peay also was the first to 23 points in the fourth set but committed a pair of attack errors to allow UALR to battle back from a 23-22 deficit to win 25-23.
In the decisive fifth set, the Trojans led 7-6 but watched APSU score four-straight points to take a 10-7 lead and finally score a match-ending five straight points.
The day's second match saw the Lady Govs hold onto their control into the late stages of each set. Hernandez' three-straight kills in the opening set gave APSU a 9-5 lead then Doyle's three straight kills pushed the lead to 13-7. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi would make a late run - closing to within two points, 20-18, but Austin Peay would hold on for the 25-22 victory.
The second set was a runaway affair with the Lady Govs jumping out to a 9-3 lead and later holding a 19-9 advantage en route to the 25-15 victory. The third set was more of the same as APSU raced out to 9-3 lead again and pushed the advantage all the way to 22-11 before closing the match with a 25-17 victory.
Doyle finished with 15 kills against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and finished the Maroon Classic with a team-best 60 kills (4.29 kills per set). Skinner chipped in 10 kills.
Austin Peay's service game was particularly impressive Saturday, recording 15 service aces against UALR and 12 against TAMCC to finish the tournament with 37 service aces. Hernandez led the Lady Govs with nine aces while Skinner served up eight aces. Both Grantham and junior libero Paige Economos each had seven aces.
Austin Peay returns to action next weekend at the IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational with contests Saturday and Sunday.
SIU EDWARDSVILLE 3, THE CITADEL 0; BALL STATE 3, SIU EDWARDSVILLE 0
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Southern Illinois University Edwardsville took a split at its own tournament Saturday, defeating The Citadel in three sets and then falling to Ball State in three sets.
SIUE downed The Citadel 25-18, 25-13, 25-13 and dropped the match to Ball State 25-23, 25-20, 25-18.
SIUE hit an impressive .367 as a team against the Bulldogs. Jessica Hemann was powerful in the middle with 12 kills and no errors on 20 attacks. Sydney Winslow was equally as effective on the right side with nine kills and no errors on 15 attacks. Sophomore middle hitter Brianne Graunke also finished with nine kills.
The Cougars played strong defense against the Bulldogs with 46 digs, including 16 from libero Karie Downing.
The Cougars attempted to knock off a Ball State team which had won its previous two matches in the Cougar Classic. The Cardinals controlled the net with 11 blocks and made fewer attack errors as the difference in the match.
SIUE hit .090 against Ball State with Lexi Cibulka providing nine kills to lead the Cougars.
Graunke was second on the team in kills against Ball State with eight.
Defense kept the Cougars close with double-digit digs from Downing and Julia Whitfield.
Kelsey Brandl powered the offensive attack for Ball State. She finished with 12 kills, six blocks and a .429 hitting percentage.
Ball State improved to 3-0 while SIUE dropped to 1-2.
MIAMI (OHIO) 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0; BELMONT 3, JACKSONVILLE STATE 0
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Jacksonville State volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on Saturday, when Miami (Ohio) and Belmont handed the Gamecocks 3-0 losses on the final day of the Belmont Invitational.
After downing Memphis on Friday night, the Gamecocks (1-2) were swept by Miami, 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-22) on Saturday morning before Belmont earned a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-22) win in the tournament finale.
In the opening match of the day, JSU mustered just a .154 attack percentage, while Miami hit .232. Seniors Caitlin Vorbeck and Kara Slater led the Gamecock offense with eight and seven kills, respectively.
Junior Lauren Harkins had a match-high 15 digs, while freshman Kelly Cole added seven.
Jenn Caylor's 10 kills made her the lone player in the match in double figures, while Colleen Loftus recorded 10 digs for the Redhawks.
In the nightcap, Belmont hit .231 as a team while holding JSU to an .056 percentage that was hampered by 22 attack errors. Kayla Albritton and Maggie Johnson had 14 and 12 kills, respectively, for the Bruins, while Johnson's 11 digs gave her a double-double.
JSU was led on offense by sophomore Alyx Schulte, who had eight kills to go along with seven digs on the back row. Vorbeck added six kills on offense, while Harkins and freshman Abbey Heredia had nine and eight digs, respectively.
The Gamecocks will return home, where they will play their home opener on Tuesday against Kennesaw State.
AUBURN 3, UT MARTIN 0; TROY 3, UT MARTIN 0
AUBURN, Ala. - UT Martin dropped a pair of matches on the final day of the War Eagle Invitational, falling to host Auburn (25-22, 25-20, 25-13) and Troy (25-12, 25-23, 25-14).
Against Auburn, sophomore Kelly Hogan from Aurora, Ill., led the Skyhawks with her first double-double of the season, 11 kills and 10 digs.
As a team the Skyhawks improved their hitting percentage to .170 after only hitting .043 in the season opener Friday against Georgia Southern. Britany Wilburn, a sophomore from Southaven, Miss., led the Skyhawks with a .714 hitting percentage. Auburn hit .286 in the match.
After a slow start in the first set against Troy University (1-2) in the War Eagle Invitational at Auburn University, The University of Tennessee at Martin volleyball team (0-3) showed signs of fight in the second set.
The Skyhawks battled until the bitter end in the second set which saw the scored tied 14 times and the lead switch hands on eight occasions. However, Troy eked out a 25-23 victory and went on to win the match 3-0. Troy posted a 25-12 win in the first set and won the match with a 25-14 decision in the third set.
The Skyhawks hit a disappointing .079 against Troy in three sets, but out hit the Trojans .200 to .100 in the teeter-totting second set.
Kelly Hogan led the team with eight serves, while Britany Wilburn and Katie Redman had seven kills each for the Skyhawks. Wilburn led the Skyhawks with a .462 hitting percentage. Kasey Elswick led the Skyhawks with 13 digs. The Skyhawks managed six blocks, two more than Troy, in the match.
The Skyhawks return to action Friday and Saturday, Sept. 3 and 4, when they play in the Mercer Bear Brawl.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, WESTERN ILLINOIS 1; SOUTHEAST MISSOURI BRADLEY 1
PEORIA, Ill. - The Southeast Missouri volleyball won the final three sets after dropping the first set 25-15. Freshman Julie Shives, and seniors Kelly Benacka and Claire Keaton were named to the All-Tournament team, with Keaton winning MVP honors.
Keaton finished the match with 15 kills, and 20 digs, while Kelly Benacka had 25 digs. Julie Shives had an impressive 49 assists and 16 digs.
Southeast could not overcome the Braves accurate attack attempts in the first set, as Bradley posted 21 kills on 43 attempts. The Redhawks had nine kills on 35 attempts, but only committed two errors.
Freshman Emily Coon continued to play well, posting three kills on four attempts. Senior Emily Hughes knocked down two kills on six attempts, and freshman Julie Shives assisted on nine kills.
Claire Keaton led the way with five digs, while Meagan Webb and Kelly Benacka each had three.
In the second set, the Redhawks and Braves battled back and forth, with Southeast taking its first lead at 9-8. They continued to hold the lead throughout the set, and finished with a 25-21 advantage.
Through two sets, Coon had eight kills on 14 attempts, and Keaton had seven kills on 20 attempts.
Southeast took the momentum into the third set, matching point for point with Bradley until several blocking errors gave the Redhawks a 17-15 lead. After a long rally with the score at 19-17, Karlee Lursen tipped a ball in to give Southeast a 20-17 lead. Claire Keaton sent a hard swing into the back row that was unable to be returned, which put Southeast up 23-18. Coon and Keaton ended the set with a block that gave the Redhawks a 25-20 set win.
The fourth set started out different for Southeast, as they scored the sets first three points. The Braves countered with a six point rally, but Southeast kept the pressure on. A long rally with the score 7-7 was highlighted by Emily Hughes laying out horizontally to save a Braves kill and a Berkley Idel dig which led to a Redhawks point.
A timeout by Bradley stopped Southeast's momentum, but only for two points.
Southeast scored seven straight points to cushion the lead to 22-14 on powerful swings by Coon and Karlee Lursen. Lursen ended the match with another powerful swing, as the Redhawks finished off the Braves with a 25-17 final.
The Redhawks kept the energy up the entire match, which was vital in pulling out a win.
Tournament MVP Claire Keaton finished the tournament with 41 kills, and 40 digs. She had 15 kills and 20 digs in the final match.
CENTRAL ARKANSAS 3, MURRAY STATE 0; WYOMING 3, MURRAY STATE 1
LARAMIE, Wyo. - Murray State dropped a pair of matches at the Wyoming Invite, falling to Central Arkansas, 3-0 (26-24, 25-23, 25-21) and host Wyoming, 3-1 (25-20, 27-29, 25-21, 25-20).
In the match with Central Arkansas, the Racers (0-3) were led by junior Logan Su, who tallied five kills and a .250 (5k-1e-16ta) hitting percentage. MSU saw a balanced attack as senior Ashley Nenninger tallied five kills and junior Jade Guo and red-shirt freshman Wendi Zickfield each added four.
Blocking was a key difference in the match for the Racers, as MSU tallied eight total team blocks to the Sugar Bears (2-1) four. Nenninger contributed three blocks (2 solo, 1 assist), while junior Mary Cunningham also added three (1 solo, 2 assists).
Defensively all but one of the 10 players that saw action tallied at least one dig, with junior Kayleah Sauer leading the way with 11.
The Racers opened the match by earning the first two points and took a 3-1 advantage. The Sugar Bears tied the game at three and then took over the lead. CAU pushed its lead to five (5-10) before MSU battled back with an 8-2 run to regain the lead (13-12). The Racers kept pushing and increased the advantage to as many as three points before the Sugar Bears made a come-back of their own to take the lead back (21-22). CAU went up 22-24, but MSU forced extra points in the set before falling 24-26 in the opening set.
The second set was a fight for control, with eight tie scores and both teams trading four to five-point runs throughout the set. The final tie came at 19 when MSU used a 3-0 run to tie the set. The teams traded points and short runs the rest of the set, but it was the Sugar Bears who earned the 23-25 win.
The third set was another back-and-forth battle with the Racers and CAU trading several three and four-point runs. However it was the Sugar Bears that earned one more run than MSU as they earned the 21-25 victory to win the match in three sets.
Senior Becca Lamb led the Racers (0-4) against the Cowgirls (4-0), with her second double-double of the season. Lamb tallied 12 kills, 15 digs, one block and a .276 hitting percentage. Junior Kayleah Sauer led the team defensively with 20 digs, while Guo garnered seven kills, 40 assists, nine digs, and five blocks (1-4).
Junior Logan Su opened the match with a block solo, but the Cowgirls quickly took control of the match with two back-to-back four-point runs and a three-point run that pushed the lead to nine (6-15). Wyoming kept the lead around eight to 10 points until late in the set when MSU started a quiet come-back. With the scoreboard reading 24-16, in favor of the Cowgirls, the Racers went on a 4-0 run that held off set-point for a while, but Wyoming took the first set 20-25.
The second set looked like it would go the same way as the first, after MSU fell behind eight points (9-17). However, a change was made in the line-up for the Racers with the addition of Teresa Krog and things turned around. MSU used several small runs (two-three points) to close the gap to five points (15-20). Wyoming followed with a 2-0 run, but the Racers then made a move with a 7-0 run to tie the set at 22.
The Cowgirls went up 22-24 and it looked like they would head into the break with a 2-0 lead. But MSU didn't quit fighting and forced the set into extra points. With the set tied at 27, senior Becca Lamb landed a kill that was followed by a block by Guo and red-shirt freshman Wendi Zickfield that gave the Racers the 29-27 set victory.
The third set was a tight battle until the middle when Wyoming used two short runs to take a seven-point advantage. MSU slowly tried to chip away at the lead and cut the advantage to five (18-23). The Racers did not go quietly, as they used a late 3-0 run to cut the lead to three (21-24), but Wyoming earned the 21-25 set win.
MSU took an early lead, but the Cowgirls tied the set at two and then never allowed the Racers to get closer than three points the rest of the set. Wyoming pushed its lead to as many as four points and earned a 20-25 victory.
The Racers will be back in action Sep. 3-4 at the Bearcat Invitational hosted by the University of Cincinnati. MSU's first match of the tournament is scheduled for Friday, Sep. 3 at 4 p.m.