Murray State University Athletics
Volleyball Goes To Kent State Invitational
9/6/2006 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State women's volleyball team will take part in the Kent State Invitational this weekend.
The Racers (2-1) open the tournament against host Kent State on Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT, then take on North Carolina State on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and Chicago State on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
MSU opened the season at the UNF Labor Day Classic at Jacksonville, Fla., last weekend, beating Idaho State and Appalachian State, but falling to tournament host and eventual champion North Florida.
"We started the season off well; now, it's time to keep growing as a team," said MSU head coach David Schwepker. "We did a very good job last weekend, and we need to see how we stack up against other teams and see how we are developing. This tournament -- all of the tournaments we play in -- will help us prepare for the Ohio Valley Conference season."
This tournament marks the first meeting for the Racers against Kent State and Chicago State. North Carolina State won the only previous meeting with Murray State at the 1996 UNCC Best Western Invitational.
Murray State will take part in the Memphis Invitational on Sept. 15-16, then begins its OVC season on Sept. 22 at Eastern Illinois.
OVC Notes
Murray State leads the OVC in digs by a huge margin. The Racers average 25.23 digs per game, which is 7.87 digs per game more than second-place Southeast Missouri. By the same token SEMO is 7.84 digs per game ahead of 11th-place Tennessee-Martin. MSU finished last season ranked second in the nation in digs per game.
Four of the OVC's top 10 players in digs per game are Racers. Heather Norris leads the way with 6.31 dpg, while Alison Mugler is second at 4.85 dpg. Cassie Chesney is sixth at 4.38 digs per game, while Tara DeMage is seventh at 4.31 digs per game.
MSU is second in the conference in opponent hitting percentage at .185, and is fourth in assists at 12.62 assists per game. Setter Cassie Chesney is third in the league with 11.85 assists per game.
Katie Kemezys is ninth in the OVC with 3.54 points per game and 10th with 2.92 kills per game.
