Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
UT Martin
Racers Extend Winning Streak to Four Matches with 3-0 Win Over UT Martin
10/21/2008 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sophomore Sara Hayden led the
“Sara [Hayden] and Ashley [Nenninger] played outstanding tonight,” said head coach David Schwepker. “A lot of it comes from great team passing and defense and our setter doing a good job running the ball. Those things allowed everyone on the team to play well tonight.”
Hayden was one of three MSU players to hit above .400, with freshman setter Jade Guo garnering a career-best .600 (9k-0e-15ta) hitting percentage and sophomore Ashley Nenninger earning a career-high .500 (12k-2e-20ta) attack percentage.
“The more aggressive that Jade [Guo] is with the ball the more it opens up our hitters,” Schwepker added. “Because the other team has to focus on everyone on the court instead of just focusing on the hitters.”
The Racers combined for a .324 (51k-15e-111ta) hitting percentage, making it three-straight matches with a hitting percentage over .300, and out-hit the Skyhawks (7-17, 5-6 OVC) with their .160 (36k-16e-125ta) percentage.
MSU also held a large advantage in the digs column, 58-39. Freshman Kayleah Sauer led the team with 15 digs, while senior Heather Norris added 14 and senior Alison Mugler and junior Cassie Chesney tallied nine each.
The first set started out close before the Racers jumped out to a 7-4 lead. UT Martin then tied the set at seven with a 3-0 run. The teams then traded the next four serves before MSU started a 5-0 run to push ahead for good. Nenninger tallied four of her 12 kills in the opening set, with Guo also earning four.
The Skyhawks then opened the second set with a 3-0 run to earn their largest lead of the match. The Racers quickly regrouped and tied the set at three and then traded the lead with UT Martin. The Skyhawks earned another lead with the score tied at five with a 2-0 run. The Racers then responded and took the lead back with a 3-0 run to earn a 9-7 advantage. UT Martin then tied the set at 10 and pushed ahead by two with another 3-0 run.
The score was then tied at 12 when the Skyhawks pushed their lead back out to three (16-13. The Racers then fought back with a 6-3 run to tie the set at 19. MSU then ran the table with a 5-0 run to earn the 25-19 victory, sparked by two straight kills by Hayden.
After the break the teams then resumed the battled with five tie scores in the first 22 points of the final set. The Racers broke the final 11-11 tie with a 6-0 run with Sauer at the service line. The Skyhawks kept pushing, but were not able to get closer than four points the rest of the match.
MSU will now have a week off before facing
Notes: Four Racers recorded career-best marks in the match against UT Martin, while three more added season bests...MSU has now won the last six meetings with the Skyhawks in Murray and owns a 29-17 advantage in the all-time series...Schwepker is now just two wins away from his 100th conference victory.
Quotes
Head Coach David Schwepker
“What we have been concentrating on in practice is us. We went back to the basics and worked on more skill work to keep preparing for our matches.”
