Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Austin Peay
Volleyball Shuts Out Austin Peay
10/26/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Junior libero Heather Norris moved into second place on the Murray State career digs list, and the Racer volleyball team hit a season-high .360 in its 3-0 shutout of visiting Ohio Valley Conference rival Austin Peay. Game scores were 30-13, 30-21, 30-18.
Norris now has 1,628 career digs. She trails Kim Koehler (1987-90), who finished her four-year career at Murray State with 1,994 digs. Norris ranks 13th on the OVC career digs list, headed by Eastern Kentucky's Brittany Nobilio, who has 2,342 career digs after the Colonels' match tonight. Norris is just 38 digs behind No. 12 Erica Gerth of Eastern Illinois, and at her current pace, would finish this regular season in eighth place on the OVC career digs list.
Against Austin Peay, the Racers got off to a great start, scoring the first six points of the match behind the serving of Norris, who served up two of her match-high five aces in that stretch. Leading 19-12, the Racers (14-11, 11-4 OVC) ran off 11 of the last 12 points (the sole APSU point coming on a Murray State serving error) to win the game 30-13.
In the second game, the Lady Govs (8-19, 3-12 OVC) got out to a 7-5 lead before the Racers scored five of the next six points behind Norris's serving to take a 10-8 lead. Austin Peay tied the game at 13-13 before MSU went on another run, scoring 10 of the next 12 points to take a 23-15 lead en route to the 30-21 win.
In Game 3, APSU scored four straight points behind the serving of Kristen Kirch to tie the game at 11-11, but the Racers scored 15 of the next 17 points to push out to a 26-13 lead on the way to the 30-18 win.
"Our offense was very strong tonight," said MSU head coach David Schwepker. "Our offense, our defense -- everything we've been working on worked for us. We are working on becoming more aggressive and going after everything. When we do that, we play our best. Every team in the conference is so good, we have to play hard if we want to win."
Murray State was led by junior outside hitter Alison Mugler, who had a match-high 13 kills and hit .440, making only two errors in 25 attacks. Junior outside hitter Alyssa Groves had 12 kills and hit .393, with only one error in 28 attacks, while senior middle hitter Tara DeMage had 10 kills and hit .370, with no errors in 27 attacks. Sophomore setter Cassie Chesney had four kills in four attacks for a perfect 1.000 attack percentage. Chesney handed out a match-high 45 assists, while Norris served up a career-high-tying five aces.
On defense, Norris repelled a match-high 29 digs, while Mugler had 17 and Chesney had 11. Freshman middle hitter Sara Hayden had a match-high four blocks, while Mugler, Groves and DeMage each had three.
For Austin Peay, Maegan Squibb and Jesica Mollman had six kills each, while Sarah Alisaleh handed out 25 assists. On defense, Kirch had 16 digs, while Morgan Strozak had 15 and Alisaleh had 10. Squibb, Marisa Jordan and Taylor Skinner each had a team-high two blocks.
Murray State takes off on its final road trip of the regular season, making the annual "Death Valley" trek. The Racers visit Eastern Kentucky on Friday at 6 p.m. CT, then go to OVC title contender Morehead State on Saturday at 10 a.m. CT.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Nothing changed with the top four teams in OVC volleyball. Jacksonville State (15-7, 12-3 OVC) beat host Tennessee State 3-0, while Morehead State (17-8, 11-3 OVC) stayed a half-match behind after beating Eastern Illinois 3-. Southeast Missouri (16-10, 11-4 OVC) stayed tied with Murray State with a 3-1 wni at Eastern Kentucky. Tennessee State (11-13, 9-6 OVC) lost its fourth straight conference match and remains in fifth place, while Samford (13-11, 8-7 OVC), which beat JSU on Tuesday, fell at Tennessee Tech tonight 3-1. Tech (13-13, 7-8 OVC) inched closer to the top six with its win, hoping to be a part of the six-team OVC Championship Tournament. Eastern Illinois (11-13, 4-11 OVC) is in eighth place, followed by idle UT Martin (9-17, 3-11 OVC), Austin Peay (8-19, 3-12 OVC) and Eastern Kentucky (3-21, 2-12 OVC).
Jacksonville State, Morehead State and Southeast Missouri each need either a win or a Tennessee Tech loss to clinch berths into the OVC Tournament. The Racers need either two wins, a win and a Tech loss or two Tech losses to clinch a berth.
