Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
UT Martin
Volleyball Beats UT Martin In Five Games
10/23/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
When Murray State's volleyball team won 20 of the last 26 points of Game 3 against Ohio Valley Conference rival UT Martin to take a two-games-to-one lead in their match, most people would have believed that the Skyhawks had packed it in with thoughts of what to eat on the way home. As it turned out, the only thoughts on the Skyhawks' minds were to push back, and push they did, winning Game 4 30-27 to force a deciding fifth game. In that fifth game, the teams battled back and forth until the Racers scored four of the last five points, finally wresting the game and the match, winning 30-27, 28-30, 30-14, 27-30, 16-14.
In that fifth game, UT Martin (9-16, 3-11 OVC) used two aces in winning the first three points of the game. After an MSU timeout, the Racers (13-11, 10-4 OVC) responded, taking advantage of UTM errors to tie the game at 3-3. The teams exchanged sideouts, with the Skyhawks taking a 5-4 lead before Murray State ran off four points behind the serving of junior outside hitter Alison Mugler to forge an 8-5 lead. The Skyhawks scored the next three points to knot the game at 8-8, and the battle was on.
Trailing 13-12, Murray State called another timeout, then came back and used kills from Mugler and senior middle hitter Tara DeMage to get to match point at 14-13. The Skyhawks called a timeout, and a smack from Lauren Montague tied the game at 14-14. A kill by Mugler brought the Racers to match point again, and a UTM error sealed the game and the match.
"Martin played great volleyball," said MSU head coach David Schwepker. "They had some great rallies and did a lot of great things to stay in the game. I'm proud of our girls. We were down a lot and made the big comebacks. I told them, 'I want to see what you can do when you get down like this,' and they did it.
"Game 5 was anybody's game. We got a couple of lucky breaks, but we were able to get the win; I'll take that!"
Five Racers had double-digit kills, led by DeMage, who had a career-high 21 and hit .340, with only five errors in 47 attacks. Freshman outside hitter Becca Lamb had 19 kills and hit .391, with only one error in 46 attacks, and junior outside hitter Alyssa Groves had 19 kills. Freshman middle hitter Sara Hayden had 14 kills, hitting .300 with five errors in 30 attacks, while Mugler added 11 kills.
Six MSU players had double-digit digs, helping the Racers to a team total of 107. Mugler had a team-high 23 digs, while DeMage had 22, Groves had 19, sophomore setter Cassie Chesney had 17, freshman outside hitter Ashley Nenninger had 12 and Hayden had 11. DeMage had a co-match-high three blocks for MSU, while Chensey had match-highs with 65 assists and three aces.
UT Martin was paced by 15 kills from Kathryn Sprague, who hit .375 with three errors in 32 attacks. Montague and Sarah Jett each had 11 kills for UTM. Raquel Jones had six kills and no errors in 14 attacks, hitting .429.
Anna Gautreau had a match-high 25 digs, while Randie Woolridge had 13 and Montague, Emily Steinbeck and Morgan Kilpatrick had 11 each. Jett and Taylor Noland each had three blocks, while Kilpatrick handed out 28 assists and Steinbeck had 18.
Murray State will host Austin Peay (8-18, 3-11 OVC) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Racer Arena. Admission is free.
WHO'S IN FIRST?
Jacksonville State (14-7, 11-3 OVC) was upset at Samford tonight 3-0, bringing the Gamecocks within striking distance of three teams in the OVC standings. Morehead State (16-8, 10-3 OVC) won at Tennessee Tech to pull to within a half-match of JSU, while the Racers and Southeast Missouri (15-10, 10-4 OVC) are tied for third, just one match back. Fifth-place Tennessee State (11-12, 9-5 OVC), which was idle tonight, is still within two matches of first place. Samford's win solidified sixth place for the Bulldogs (13-10, 8-6 OVC), which have won their last five league matches. The loss for Tech (12-13, 6-8 OVC) widened the gap between the seventh-place Golden Eagles and sixth-place Samford, meaningful in that the OVC Championship Tournament takes only the top six teams. Eastern Illinois (11-12, 4-10 OVC) remains in eighth place, while UT Martin (9-16, 3-11 OVC) is tied for ninth with idle Austin Peay (8-18, 3-11 OVC), and Eastern Kentucky (3-20, 2-11 OVC) trails those teams by a half-match.
