Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
South Alabama
Everyone's a winner at MSU's Helping Hands Classic
9/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
It seems appropriate to be able to honestly say that everyone who took part in the MSU Helping Hands Classic tournament was a winner, but the biggest winners were the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Volleyball fans contributed canned foods and other needed items that filled more than a dozen boxes.
The three teams -- Murray State, South Alabama and Youngstown State -- each split their matches with each other over the weekend, finishing with equal records of 2-2 in the tournament, thus making each team the co-champion. The teams that lost yesterday picked up wins today, good news for the Racers (2-2), which swept its matches this afternoon after lackluster play yesterday.
In its first match of the day today, Murray State changed its lineup, and it made a huge difference. Freshman Alison Mugler, who had more errors than kills yesterday, had the greatest turnaround, finishing with 15 kills to only five attack errors, serving up an ace and rejecting two blocks.
Junior Katie Kemezys had 11 blocks, tying the Murray State record for most blocks in a single match, last tied by Melissa Bridges on Nov. 12, 1996. She also set an MSU record for most blocks in a home match.
The Racers best South Alabama 3-1, led by junior Holly Jansen's team-high 17 kills. Jansen also served up two aces in the match.
Kemezys added 15 kills to complete the double-double. Freshman Kelsey Hubert handed out a match-high 54 assists, while junior Julie Lashley served up a match-high three aces.
Mugler and freshman Heather Norris led the defense with a match-high 19 digs each, while freshman Alyssa Groves had 13 and Hubert added 10. Hubert also had three blocks for MSU.
For South Alabama (3-2), Via Filipe had 19 kills, while Whitney Sanders had 15 and Summer Pilgrim had 10. Pilgrim had six blocks to lead the Jaguars, while Colleen Downey had 14 digs.
In its second match, Murray State shut out Youngstown State (4-3) 30-24, 30-17, 30-22 behind Kemezys's match-high 17 kills. Mugler had a match-high four blocks, while Norris had a match-high 23 digs. Mugler added 18 digs, while Lashley had 14. Mugler and Lashley each served up three aces for MSU. Hubert handed out a match-high 37 assists.
Youngstown State was paced by Abby Ettenhofer's 11 kills. Karla Everhart had 14 digs, while Crystal Duncan had 13. Everhart handed out 21 assists, while Angie Pasquinelli had 14.
Freshman Lisa Forchee, who didn't play yesterday, did well in her first two career matches, notching eight kills in the USA match and seven in the YSU match.
Junior Allie Hunt was named the all-tournament team for her balanced play. Joining Hunt on the all-tournament team were Whitney Sanders of South Alabama and Amanda Cindric of Youngstown State.
The Most Valuable Player honor was split among three players. Kemezys, Jenna Swilley of South Alabama and Cari Leslie of Youngstown State were each named co-MVPs.
"This was a really great tournament, especially considering how quickly it was put together," said MSU head coach David Schwepker. "I can't believe how much food and other items we were able to gather for the hurricane victims. That truly made this tournament special. We appreciate everyone who made a donation, and I want to thank South Alabama for bringing those donations back to Mobile, Ala., with them. I want to thank South Alabama and Youngstown State for coming up here and playing. It was a really competitive tournament."
Murray State moves on to its next tournament, the Western Illinois Pizza Hut Invitational in Macomb, Ill. The Racers open against Southern Mississippi on Friday at 4 p.m.
