Murray State
Southeast Missouri State
Racers blank SEMO 3-0, advance to OVC semifinals
11/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team stole the show at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Tournament tonight, shutting out Southeast Missouri 3-0, 30-22, 30-28, 30-27. In notching their eighth straight win, the No. 6-seeded Racers advance to the semifinals tomorrow (Friday) at 2:30 p.m. CT against second-seeded Jacksonville State.
Murray State (16-11) had a strong performance with a powerful supporting cast. Junior outside hitter Kimberly Bunnage had a team-high 16 kills with only two errors in 30 attacks for a .467 attack percentage. Freshman outside hitter Lilli Zhan added 15 kills with two errors in 30 attacks for a .433 percentage, while sophomore outside hitter Paige Sun had 14 kills with one error in 32 attacks for a .406 percentage.
The three outside hitters combined for 45 kills and five errors in 92 attacks for a .435 percentage. As a team, the Racers had 59 attacks and only eight errors for a .415 attack percentage.
Sophomore setter Nikki Wong hit .400 with six kills to go with a match-high 47 assists and co-match-high 11 digs, while freshman middle blocker Katie Kemezys hit .364 with a match-high five blocks.
For Southeast Missouri (11-19), Suzanne Gundlach had an outstanding match, hitting a match-high 20 kills with one error in 34 attacks for a .559 attack percentage, but had no support, as the rest of the team hit .108.
Sarah Frost and Jessica Wilfong added 10 kills apiece, while Emily Scannell handed out 44 assists and Jill Miller had 11 digs. Sarah Frost served up a match-high three aces, while Scannell, Frost and Gundlach had nine digs apiece.
"This group is very focused for tomorrow," said MSU head coach David Schwepker of his charges. "It's not like we got excited for winning here today. It's more like: 'This is what we're supposed to do.' I think we'll be ready for tomorrow, but like today, it will be a tough match."
Should Murray State win tomorrow, the championship match will be played on Saturday at noon CT against the winner of Friday's Morehead State-Austin Peay match. Austin Peay shut out Eastern Kentucky 3-0 in today's other quarterfinal match.
