Murray State
Saint Louis
Racers claim first win of season in 3-0 shutout of Saint Louis
9/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State women's volleyball team claimed its first win of the season in a commanding 3-0 shutout win over previously unbeaten Saint Louis in the IU Invitational in Bloomington, Ind., this afternoon. Game scores were 30-25, 30-20, 30-23. The win marked head coach David Schwepker's 100th career win as a collegiate head coach.
Junior setter Nikki Wang was named to the all-tournament team from Murray State.
After winning the first game of the match 30-25, the Racers (1-2) opened the second game strongly, breaking a 1-1 tie with seven straight points to get out to an 8-1 lead. The MSU lead increased to 14-6 before the Billikens (3-1) ran off six straight points to narrow the gap to 14-12. SLU was able to stay as close as 22-19 before MSU ran off eight of the next nine points for the win.
Murray State hit .500 in the second game, with 24 kills in 44 attacks with just two errors.
In the third game, after a 10-10 tie, Murray State ran off seven of the next eight points to take a 17-11 lead. The Racers didn't allow SLU any closer than three points on the way to the win.
Murray State hit .420 in the match with 56 kills in 112 attacks and only nine errors.
Sophomore middle blocker Katie Kemezys, senior outside hitter Danielle Sutterer and sophomore outside hitter Holly Jansen didn't make an error in 41 attacks. Kemezys had 13 kills in 19 attacks, Sutterer had seven kills in 12 attacks and Jansen had five kills in 10 attacks for a combined .610 attack percentage.
Senior outside hitter Kimberly Bunnage led the Racer attack with 14 kills, making only three errors in 27 attacks for a .407 percentage. Junior outside hitter Paige Sun added nine kills, while Wang had eight, making only one error in 18 attacks for a .389 percentage.
Sun repelled a co-match-high nine digs, while senior libero Casandra Ersel had eight and Bunnage had seven. Sutterer and Jansen had a team-high three blocks each. Sun and sophomore outside hitter Julie Lashley served up two aces apiece. Wang handed out a match-high 41 assists.
For Saint Louis, Aida Antanaviciute had a match-high 20 kills, while Stacy Larking had a match-high three aces. Chrissy King had nine digs, while Erin McClanahan had eight, and McClanahan had a match-high five blocks, while Antanaviciute had three. McClanahan had a team-high 40 assists for the Billikens.
Murray State will take part in the UAB Invitational Sept. 10-11 at Birmingham, Ala. The Racers open the tournament against Alabama A&M on Friday at 4 p.m., then take on Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at 4 p.m. and host Alabama at Birmingham on Saturday at 7 p.m.
TOURNAMENT TALLIES: Murray State team leaders in the IU Invitational included:
KILLS: Bunnage, 43 (4.30 per game); Sun, 38 (3.80 per game); Kemezys, 33 (3.30 per game). Murray State had 17.10 kills per game to its opponents' 16.60.
ATTACK PERCENTAGE (more than 6 attacks per game): Kemezys, .518; Wang, .279. Sutterer had a .303 pecentage in 33 attacks in 10 games. Murray State hit .297 to its opponents' .275.
DIGS: Sun, 41 (4.10 per game); Bunnage, 20 (2.00 per game). MSU had 14.70 digs per game to its opponents' 12.90.
BLOCKS: Kemezys, 7 (0.70 per game); Jansen, 5 (0.50 per game). MSU had 1.70 blocks per game to its opponents' 2.70.
ACES: Lashley, 6 (0.60 per game; Sun, 4 (0.40 per game). MSU had 1.40 aces per game to its opponents' 1.60.
ASSISTS: Wang, 121 (12.10 per game). MSU had 14.10 assists per game to its opponents' 14.30.
