Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Southeast Missouri
Volleyball Shuts Out SEMO In Cape
9/21/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team rejected nine blocks at Southeast Missouri tonight, tying a team season-high, holding the Redhawks to only two blocks in the Racers' 3-0 shutout in Ohio Valley Conference play. Game scores were 30-24, 33-31, 30-25.
In the first game, Murray State (5-8, 2-2 OVC) vaulted out to a 9-3 lead, gaining three points behind the serving of senior middle hitter Tara DeMage and five points behind the service of junior outside hitter Alison Mugler. Southeast Missouri (5-8, 2-2 OVC) chipped away at the lead and got within two points at 13-11, but would not get any closer in the 30-24 Murray State win.
The Redhawks turned their fortunes around in Game 2, pushing out to a 14-10 lead and expanding that to 19-13, but the Racers kept their cool. Trailing 27-23, MSU scored four straight points behind Mugler's serving to knot the game at 27-27. SEMO scored a sideout, but a kill by freshman middle hitter Sara Hayden and a SEMO error put Murray State at game point at 29-28. Southeast Missouri scored a sideout, tying the game at 29-29, but a kill by freshman outside hitter Becca Lamb again gave MSU game point at 30-29. The Redhawks got another sideout, and Lamb got another kill to give MSU a 31-30 lead. A SEMO sideout re-tied the game, and another Lamb kill got MSU to game point, but a block by DeMage ended the game, giving Murray State a 33-31 win.
The third game was a battle from the start. No team took more than a three-point lead for the first part of the match. SEMO trimmed the Murray State lead to 21-20, but the Racers went on a tear, scoring three straight points behind DeMage to push out to a 24-20 lead. MSU got to match point at 29-24 on a SEMO attack error, but the Redhawks got the ball back with a sideout. A service error by Southeast Missouri gave the game to MSU 30-25.
"This was a nice win," said MSU head coach David Schwepker. "This was a great team effort. This was a good match -- very tough. This is a brutal conference this year; there won't be an easy match out there.
"SEMO was running their outsides a lot, so we were trying to get our athletes to calm down and watch what was going on. We did a good job blocking tonight."
Murray State was led by Lamb, who had 13 kills and hit .275, with only two errors in 40 attacks. Hayden had 12 kills and hit .455, with two errors in 22 attacks, while junior outside hitter Alyssa Groves had 11 kills and hit .206, with only four errors in 34 attacks. Sophomore setter Cassie Chesney handed out a match-high 49 assists.
On defense, Groves had a team-high 18 digs, while junior libero Heather Norris had 17, DeMage had 16, Mugler had 14 and Chesney had 11. Hayden had a match-high five blocks, while Groves had three.
Southeast Missouri was paced by 17 kills from Aubrey Dondlinger, who hit .317 with four errors in 41 attacks. Karleigh DeLong added 15 kills for the Redhawks. Sarah Barth handed out 46 assists.
On defense, DeLong and Molly Davis had 20 digs each, while Dondlinger had 14, Claire Keaton had 12 and Barth had 11.
Murray State continues the OVC road swing with a match at Eastern Illinois (7-6, 0-4 OVC). Live Stats are available through a link at the volleyball schedule at GoRacers.com, and video streaming is available through OVCsports.tv. A link for the video streaming is also available at the volleyball schedule on GoRacers.com.
