Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Jacksonville State
Racers Get Back on Winning Track at Jacksonville State
10/11/2008 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Senior Heather Norris also had a big night, garnering her 1,995th career dig to claim the No. spot on the Racers (7-11, 4-4 OVC) All-Time Digs List. Norris moved past Kim Koehler, who ended her career with 1,994 digs in 1990 and ended the night with 1,996 career digs.
MSU was led by freshman setter Jade Guo, who tallied eight kills, a .333 (8k-2e-18ta) hitting percentage, 20 assists, and eight digs. Sophomore Sara Hayden was the next Racer in the kill's column, with seven. Hayden also led the team with a .357 (7k-2e-14ta) hitting percentage.
The Racers fell behind early in the first set, 9-5 after a 4-0 run by the Gamecocks. MSU then slowly chipped away at the lead and pulled within two (12-10) on a 5-2 run. JSU pulled away again and led by as many as four before the Racers tied the set at 21. The teams then traded 2-0 runs and forced the set into extra points. MSU earned the 27-25 victory on a kill by senior Alison Mugler and an attack error by Caitlin Vorbeck.
The Gamecocks jumped out to an early 3-1 advantage in the second set, before the Racers tied it at four. JSU then opened the lead to five with a 5-0 run. MSU cut the lead to two (12-10) and then tied the set at 13 with a 9-4 run. The Gamecocks then tried to pull away for good with a 5-0 run to go up 18-14, but the Racers turned the tide in their favor with a 6-1 run to earn a 20-19 advantage. The teams then traded the next four servers before MSU ended the match on a 3-1 run to earn the 25-22 win.
The third set opened with a battle for the lead. With the set tied at seven JSU earned the first lead larger than one point with a 3-0 run to go up 9-7. The Racers then tied the set at 12 with a 6-4 run. MSU earned the next point and didn't let the Gamecocks get a lead for the rest of the match. The teams would tie the score three more times in the match, but the Racers always kept control of the set and earned the 25-23 victory.
MSU earned the match victory despite trailing the JSU in all statistical categories except service aces (3-1) and errors. Hitting and service errors ended up being the difference in the match. The Gamecocks tallied 25 hitting errors to the Racers 17 and had 12 errors at the service line, while MSU tallied just one service error.
Notes: Freshman Kayleah Sauer tallied career highs in the assists (5) and service aces (2) columns...Norris also tallied a season-high kill and tallied a career-high .167 (1-0e-6ta).
