Murray State
Appalachian State
Racers set up tournament title match with 3-0 win over Appalachian State
9/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State women's volleyball team won its fifth straight match and set up a tournament title match with a 3-0 win over Appalachian State at the MTSU Invitational, 30-22, 30-16, 30-21.
The Racers (5-4) have beaten Appalachian State (2-9) and Western Illinois, and will face tournament host Middle Tennessee State (7-6), which also beat WIU and ASU, at 7:00 tonight in a winner-take-all battle.
Against Appalachian State, the Racers dispatched the Mountaineers, with every Murray State player taking the court at some point in the match.
In Game 1, MSU trailed 4-1, but scored the next nine points to vault to a 10-4 lead. The Racers pushed that lead to 27-16 en route to the 30-22 win.
In Game 2, Murray State scored six straight points to open a 19-6 run, going from a 4-3 lead to a 23-9 gap on its way to the 30-16 win.
In Game 3, MSU started with 12 of the first 17 points and cruised to the 30-21 win.
Murray State was led by junior outside hitter Kimberly Bunnage and sophomore setter Nikki Wong, who had a match-high 10 kills apiece. Sophomore outside hitter Paige Sun added nine kills for the Racers. Sun and Wong repelled a match-high eight digs each, while Bunnage and Wong had a team-high two blocks apiece. Wong handed out a match-high 25 assists, and was two digs short of a triple-double (10 kills, 25 assists, eight digs). Wong also served up three aces, while Sun had two.
Appalachian State was paced by eight kills from Jackie Jennings and six kills apiece from Stefanie Panzer and Katherine Dean. Ashley Fails and Starla Gustafson had six digs each, while Jennings had a match-high six blocks.
