Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Jacksonville State
Volleyball Battles Defending OVC Champ To Five Games
9/15/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team rebounded from its disappointing loss to Samford in the Racers' home-opener on Friday and battled the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion to a fifth and deciding game in their match this afternoon. MSU overcame a 10-5 deficit in that fifth game, scoring seven of the next eight points to take a 12-11 lead. The teams battled to extra points, with JSU taking the game 17-15 and winning the match three games to two. Game scores were 26-30, 30-21, 30-24, 27-30, 17-15.
Murray State (3-8, 0-2 OVC) stunned the Gamecocks in the first game by jumping out to a 10-3 lead. Jacksonville State (5-4, 2-0 OVC) was able to pull it back to within 23-21, but the Racers were able to keep JSU at bay to win the game 30-26.
In the second game, Murray State tied the score at 18-18 before JSU scored six straight points en route to the 30-21 win. In the third game, the Racers pulled to within 25-23 late in the game before the Gamecocks scored five of the last six points to win 30-24.
In Game 4, MSU led 20-16 before Jacksonville State scored three straight points to pull to within 20-19. The Gamecocks took a 22-21 lead before a kill by senior middle hitter Tara DeMage tied the score again at 22-22. An ace by DeMage and a JSU error gave Murray State a 24-22 lead. With the game tied at 25-25, Murray State called a timeout, then scored three straight points on a kill by junior outside hitter Alyssa Groves, a kill by freshman outside hitter Becca Lamb and an ace by senior defensive specialist Ashley Meagher. The teams exchanged points, giving MSU a 29-27 lead, and a kill by DeMage tied the match at two games apiece.
In Game 5, Jacksonville State started out strongly, vaulting out to a 10-5 lead when Murray State called a timeout. Haley Booker was the scheduled server for the Gamecocks before the timeout, but when the teams went back onto the court, Brittney Whitten served for JSU. The Gamecocks scored a point before the mistake was brought to the officials' attention. After checking with the official scorer, the mistake was found, the point was removed from JSU's score, and Murray State got a sideout for Jacksonville State being out of position, bringing the Racers to within 10-6. MSU ran off three more points behind the serving of sophomore setter Cassie Chesney to pull to within 10-9. After a JSU sideout, Murray State scored three more points behind the serving of junior libero Heather Norris to take a 12-11 lead. JSU tied the score at 12-12, but a kill from junior outside hitter Alison Mugler gave MSU a 13-12 lead. The Gamecocks scored two more points to get match point at 14-13, but back-to-back kills by Groves gave the Racers match point at 15-14. JSU scored the last three points of the match to win 17-15.
"Both teams today were very good," said MSU head coach David Schwepker. "It came right down to the wire at the end, and when you have two teams playing this hard, it's tough that the outcome will come down to one team winning and the other team losing."
"This was a battle of styles," said JSU head coach Rick Nold. "Murray has a great defense, while we play with more of an offensive style. It was a great match between two different-style teams."
Murray State was led by Groves' 15 kills. Mugler, DeMage and Lamb each had 13 kills, while freshman middle hitter Sara Hayden had 10. Chesney handed out 58 assists, while Mugler and DeMage each had three blocks.
On defense, Mugler had a match-high 33 digs, while DeMage had 23, Chesney had 21 and Norris had 18.
For Jacksonville State, Rebekah Nichols had a match-high 24 kills, hitting .412 with only three errors in 51 attacks. Abbey Breit had 18 kills, while Whitten had 14 and Joi Watts had 10. Brooke Schumacher handed out 63 assists, while Whitten had four aces and Breit had three.
On defense, Nichols had five blocks, while Breit had four and Watts had three. Abbey Vierling had 32 digs, while Breit had 20, Schumacher had 19, Whitten had 17 and Booker had 14.
Murray State visits OVC rival Tennessee-Martin (6-6, 0-2 OVC) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
