Murray State University Athletics
Volleyball Still Holds Digs Title
11/7/2006 6:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State women's volleyball team leads NCAA Division I in digs per game for the eighth straight week and the ninth week in the 10 weeks that the NCAA has released its statistics. The Racers average 24.10 digs per game, the most since the first release of the season, Sept. 3, when they averaged 25.23 digs per game.
Sophomore libero Heather Norris has reached her highest ranking of her career this week, listed at No. 5 in the nation with 6.52 digs per game. Freshman setter Cassie Chesney also reached her career-high in the assists per game listing, marking her third ranking this season among the top 30 with a No. 25 ranking with 13.02 assists per game.
Murray State (17-7, 9-5 OVC) hosts Tennessee-Martin (17-12, 6-8 OVC) tonight at 7 p.m. in Racer Arena. MSU is tied for third with Morehead State, while the Skyhawks are in eighth place, vying for a spot in the six-team O'Reilly OVC Championship Tournament. A loss would eliminate them from tournament contention. The Racers have already clinched a berth in the post-season tournament.
Murray State leads the conference in digs per game, solo blocks per game (1.23), attacks per game (47.27) and digs per opponent attack (.484). The Racers have made the second-fewest errors per game (5.67) and are second in attack percentage (.207). MSU is third in kills per game (15.44), assists per game (14.27) and points per game (18.38)
Tennessee-Martin has made the fewest errors per game (5.58) and leads the OVC in aces per game (1.97), blocks per game (2.81) and fewest blocks allowed per game (1.48). The Skyhawks have allowed the second-fewest kills per game in the OVC (13.24), have the second-lowest opponent attack percentage (.149) and the fourth-highest attack percentage (.204).
Individually, for Murray State, Norris leads the league with 6.52 digs per game, while Chesney is second with 13.02 assists per game. Senior middle blocker Katie Kemezys is third in the OVC with 4.52 points per game, fifth with 3.76 kills per game and fifth with an attack percentage of .311. Senior middle blocker Holly Jansen is fourth in the OVC with 3.77 kills and 4.26 points per game and seventh with an attack percentage of .284. Sophomore outside hitter Alison Mugler is eighth in the conference with 4.54 digs per game.
For Tennessee-Martin, Kathryn Sprague leads the OVC with 1.31 blocks per game and is fourth with an attack percentage of .313, while Sarah Jett is third with 1.26 blocks per game. Dimphy Sasse is fourth in the league with 0.45 aces per game and ninth with 0.91 blocks per game. Breanne Casey is third in the conference with 0.46 aces per game, while Anna Gautreau is seventh with 4.57 digs per game.
Murray State is holding a "Rockin' Racer Arena" night tonight in an attempt to set a volleyball arena attendance record. Food and drinks will be given away, with prizes and contests as well. Opening serve is scheduled for 7 p.m., and admission is free.
