Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Morehead State
Racers get seventh straight win with 3-0 shutout at Morehead State
9/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State women's volleyball team claimed its seventh straight win with a convincing 3-0 shutout at Ohio Valley Conference rival Morehead State tonight, 31-29, 30-20, 30-23. The win streak is the longest in Murray State head coach David Schwepker's career as a collegiate head coach.
The win was also the third straight OVC regular-season shutout for the Racers (7-4, 2-0 OVC), dating back to the end of last season.
Murray State opened Game 1 vaulting to a 4-0 lead, but Morehead State (7-7, 0-1 OVC) came right back and took a quick lead. The Eagles had two game points with a 29-27 lead, but the Racers scored the next four points to win the game 31-29.
Murray State controlled Game 2, taking a 15-5 lead en route to the 30-20 win, then used an early 6-0 run in Game 3 to take command, clinching the match with a 30-23 win.
"We came out and passed bad early," said Murray State head coach David Schwepker, "but we took care of that. Once we got that under control, the rest of the match just followed place. The gym was huge for passing, but once our girls got adjusted to that, they handled things pretty well."
Four Racers scored in double-figures, led by sophomore outside hitter Paige Sun, who had a match-high 20 kills. Junior outside hitter Kimberly Bunnage, sophomore middle blocker Abbi Gui and freshman outside hitter Lilli Zhan each had 10 kills.
Gui and junior middle blocker Danielle Sutterer each set season-highs with six blocks apiece, while Sun served up three aces for Murray State. Sophomore setter Nikki Wong handed out a match-high 48 assists.
Defensively, junior defensive specialist Casandra Ersel repelled a team-high 14 digs, while Bunnage and Sun had 10 apiece.
Morehead State was paced by 15 kills from Diana Zipp and 14 from Jennifer Kennedy. Cherelle Lampkins had 19 digs, while Charmian Craig served up five aces.
Murray State visits Eastern Kentucky (10-5, 1-0 OVC) tomorrow (Saturday) at 1 p.m. CT. EKU beat Tennessee-Martin 3-0 tonight.
"This is going to be a good match-up," Schwepker said. "Eastern Kentucky is a very strong team. It should be a good fight, and we're looking forward to facing the challenge."
