Murray State
Morehead State
Racers earn first-ever trip to NCAAs, claim third OVC title with 3-0 win in final
11/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team was the sixth seed in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Tournament, but made it clear who the best team in the field was, completing a sweep of all contenders with a 3-0 win over top seed and tournament host Morehead State yesterday, 30-23, 36-34, 30-26.
The Racers (18-11) shut out No. 3 seed Southeast Missouri on Thursday and No. 2 seed Jacksonville State on Friday to earn a spot in the championship finals.
Murray State earned its third OVC Tournament title, having won similar titles in 1989 and 1992. The Racers earned their first-ever berth in the NCAA Championship Tournament with the conference's automatic bid.
The Racers will find out their regional site and first-round opponent on Sunday, Nov. 30, at 7 p.m., when the bracket is announced on ESPNews.
The first two rounds of play will be played at campus sites on Dec. 4-7. The winners of those rounds will advance to the regionals, to be played Dec. 11-14 in Gainesville, Fla.; Honolulu, Hawai'i; Lincoln, Neb.; and Long Beach, Calif. The Final Four will be held in Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas, on Dec. 18 and 20.
"It still hasn't sunk in yet," said MSU head coach David Schwepker. "It's just awesome."
The win was the 10th straight for the Racers.
Sophomore setter Nikki Wong was named the OVC Tournament Most Valuable Player with an attack percentage of .354, 14.44 assists per game, 2.67 digs per game and 0.67 blocks per game in the tournament.
Freshman outside hitter Lilli Zhan and freshman middle blocker Katie Kemezys were named to the all-tournament team. Zhan averaged 5.11 kills per game with an attack percentage of .469, 2.56 digs per game and 0.78 blocks per game in the tournament. Kemezys averaged 1.33 blocks per game and 2.33 kills per game with a .513 attack percentage in the tournament.
Against Morehead State, the Racers were led by Zhan, who smacked 18 kills, with three errors in 30 attacks for a .500 attack percentage. Sophomore outside hitter Paige Sun had 16 kills and three errors in 39 attacks for a .333 percentage.
Kemezys had nine kills with no errors in 16 attacks for a .562 percentage, while Wong had eight kills with one error in 17 attacks for a .412 percentage. As a team, Murray State hit .351, while Morehead State (22-9) hit .304.
"This was a tough match," Schwepker said. "Both teams were just going at it. The second game was just incredible. The scores were all 3-0, but this was a tough, tough tournament."
Murray State hit .405 in Game 1 to the Eagles' .283. In Game 2, Morehead State hit .407 to the Racers' .396 , and Murray hit .250 in Game 3 to Morehead's .208.
Sun repelled a team-high 12 digs, while junior middle blocker Danielle Sutterer had a match-high five blocks. Wong handed out 44 assists for the Racers, while Zhan added three blocks and junior outside hitter Kimberly Bunnage added nine digs for MSU.
Sun co-led the Racers in the tournament with 5.11 kills per game and had a .404 attack percentage in the tournament. She also averaged a team-high 3.56 digs per game and 0.67 blocks per game in the tournament. She had a team-high 53 points in the tournament.
Sutterer led Murray State in blocking with 1.38 blocks per game in the tournament, while Bunnage added 3.00 kills per game in the tournament, third-best on the team, and 2.89 digs per game, second-best for Murray State.
As a team in the tournament, Murray State outhit its three opponents .364 to .237 and had 3.0 blocks per game to its opponents' 1.56. The Racers made 3.89 attack errors per game to their opponents' 8.11.
