Murray State
Southeast Missouri State
Racers battle SEMO to 3-2 win, clinch spot in OVC Tournament
11/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball match against visiting Southeast Missouri State shaped up to be a battle royale in Ohio Valley Conference play, and the teams didn't disappoint, as the Racers quashed the Otahkians 3-2 to clinch a spot in the OVC Championship Tournament, 24-30, 30-23, 30-27, 20-30, 15-9.
The win was the first for MSU head coach David Schwepker against his alma mater, halting a 12-match skid against SEMO. Murray State has won six straight matches, halting the Otahkians' win streak at six.
Sophomore setter Nikki Wong picked up her second triple-double of the season, slapping 12 kills, handing out 56 assists and repelling 11 digs in the match, marking her sixth career triple-double.
The Racers (14-11, 8-7 OVC) had a season-high 17 blocks, led by freshman middle blocker Katie Kemezys, who had her first double-double with 14 kills and 10 blocks.
After falling in Game 1, Murray State trailed Game 2 22-17 before scoring 11 straight points behind the serving of freshman outside hitter Lilli Zhan to leap ahead 28-22. MSU was able to win Game 2 30-23.
In Game 3, the Racers used a 6-0 run to take a 13-8 lead, but later in the Game, the Otahkians (11-17, 10-5 OVC) used a 6-0 run of their own to go ahead 18-15. MSU trailed 22-18, but scored 12 of the last 17 points to win 30-27.
SEMO led throughout most of Game 4 to win it 30-20, but in Game 5, with the game tied at 2-2, Murray State took control, scoring three points behind the serving of Kemezys and two more behind freshman outside hitter Allie Hunt to vault to a 7-2 lead. MSU was able to hold the lead for the 15-9 Game 5 win.
Junior outside hitter Kimberly Bunnage had a team-high 19 kills and a team-high attack percentage of .381, while Zhan added 14 kills, a .324 attack percentage, a team-high 18 digs and six blocks. Sophomore outside hitter Paige Sun had 14 kills and 17 digs. Junior middle blocker Danielle Sutterer rejected six blocks for MSU.
Southeast Missouri (11-17, 10-5 OVC) was paced by 22 kills and 25 digs from Suzanne Gundlach, while Sarah Frost added 20 kills. Jamie Baumstark had 14 kills, while Jessica Wilfong had 11 kills. Scannell also had a match-high four aces, as SEMO had nine aces to MSU's one.
Jill Miller had 23 digs for the Otahkians, while Emily Scannell had 15 to go with a match-high 62 assists. Ashley Smith had a team-high six blocks for SEMO, while Baumstark had five.
"We've been working a lot on our blocking this week," Schwepker said. "We improved on that a lot. We had a game plan for SEMO, and we strayed from that a bit tonight, we ended up doing OK.
"This whole SEMO thing -- we finally beat them for my first time in six years here! It was a real up-and-down match, and we had a lot of people do good jobs for us."
Murray State closes out its regular-season schedule tomorrow at 2 p.m. against OVC rival Eastern Illinois.
