Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Eastern Illinois
Volleyball Wins OVC Opener At Eastern Illinois
9/22/2006 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State women's volleyball team won its Ohio Valley Conference season-opener tonight, taking a 3-1 decision at Eastern Illinois. Game scores were 31-29, 27-30, 30-24, 30-21.
Sophomore libero Heather Norris repelled a career-high 39 digs, which also is tops in the OVC this season thus far. Sophomore outside hitter Alison Mugler contained 25 digs, while junior outside hitter Tara DeMage defended a season-high 24. As a team, Murray State had a season-high 126 digs, just four short of the team record for four-game matches.
The first game was tight throughout, with neither team getting more than a two-point lead until Murray State (9-2, 1-0 OVC) took a 24-22 lead on a kill by senior middle blocker Holly Jansen. The Racers went ahead 26-22 before host Eastern Illinois (5-7, 0-1 OVC) mounted a comeback, scoring six of the next eight points to knot the game at 28-28. The teams exchanged sideouts, making it 29-29, before senior middle blocker Katie Kemezys slammed a kill to put MSU ahead 30-29 and sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Groves notched a kill to give the Racers the game.
The second game was as intense as the first, with 15 ties and eight lead changes. A Murray State score tied the game at 27-27, but the Panthers ran off the last three points, scoring the last two on kills by Lauren Sopcic to take the second game 30-27.
In Game 3, Murray State jumped out to an 8-4 lead and expanded that to 14-8. The Racers had a 22-15 lead, but EIU whittled that down to 23-19. MSU led 26-22 then scored three straight points to take a 29-22 advantage. Their backs to the wall, the Panthers scored twice before the Racers took the third game 30-24.
In the fourth game, Murray State trailed 3-1, but scratched back ahead, taking a 13-9 lead. The Racers went from 15-11 to 19-11 behind the serving of senior outside hitter Julie Lashley and kept Eastern Illinois at arm's length the rest of the way. A kill by Kemezys was the final dagger, as MSU won the fourth game 30-21, clinching the match.
"The first two games were just unreal," said MSU head coach David Schwepker. "It was a real battle. The thing was, for the whole match, EIU hit the ball hard, real hard, and we would dig it. They kep hitting it hard, and we would just keep digging. Heather Norris was a digging machine tonight. Everybody just dug everything."
Murray State was led by Kemezys, who had a match-high 18 kills and an attack percentage of .326, making only four errors in 43 attacks. Jansen added 14 kills and an attack percentage of .268, with only three errors in 43 attacks, while DeMage slammed 13 kills, making only two errors in 42 attacks.
Kemezys and DeMage had a co-match-high four blocks each, while freshman setter Cassie Chesney handed out a match-high 54 assists to go with 16 digs. Groves repelled 15 digs for MSU.
For Eastern Illinois, Eliza Zwettler had 13 kills and 17 digs, while Kera Griffin added 12 kills and four blocks. Mary Welch and Kara Sorenson each had 11 kills for the Panthers, while Shaina Boylan had a team-high 26 digs. Crabtree added 21 digs, while Welch and Lindsay Walsh each had 11 and Kari Hauswirth had 10. Sorenson also had four blocks for EIU, while Crabtree handed out 51 assists.
Murray State next visits Southeast Missouri State (7-7, 1-0), which beat Tennessee-Martin 3-0 tonight in Cape Girardeau.
