Murray State
UT Martin
Racers shut out Tennessee-Martin to open four-match homestand
10/20/2005 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Racers (4-12, 2-7 OVC) trailed in Game 3 26-19 before making their strong run. Behind the serving of freshmen Alison Mugler and Alyssa Groves, MSU outscored the Skyhawks 7-1 at the end of the game, including the final five points behind Groves' serving. UTM (2-25, 0-9 OVC) had four game points, beginning at 29-25, but strong blocking down the stretch helped the Racers escape.
"The blocking created good defense," said MSU head coach David Schwepker, "and everything else just fell in behind that. Solid blocking on our part forced a lot of errors for (Tennessee-Martin).
"The things we work on in practice are getting better. Now, we're trying to keep going. We worked a lot on blocking this week. That was our emphasis."
Murray State had 11 blocks in the match, led by junior middle blocker Holly Jansen, who had eight. Mugler added five blocks, and freshman Kelsey Hubert had four.
Mugler picked up her ninth double-double in 16 matches with 18 kills and 18 digs, both match-highs. Jansen added 12 kills, while freshman Lisa Forchee had 10. Mugler also served up three aces for MSU.
Freshman Heather Norris solidified her hold as the leader of the OVC in digs with 18 tonight. Hubert and Forchee each had nine, while Groves had eight. The Racers lead the nation in digs, and had 69 tonight. Hubert handed out a match-high 40 assists for MSU.
Tennessee-Martin was paced by Kathryn Sprague's 10 kills and eight blocks. Shelby Knose had 18 digs to lead the Skyhawks, while Tamara Konitzer added 13. Knose handed out 15 assists, while Morgan Kilpatrick had 14. Rebecca Palmer, Randi Wooldridge and Dimphy Sasse each had three blocks for UTM.
Murray State continues this four-match homestand on Saturday at 1 p.m., when the Racers host Tennessee Tech in Racer Arena.
