Racers Advance to OVC Volleyball Championship Match With Win Over Morehead State

Friday, November 21

Cookeville, Tenn.

5 p.m.

Murray State

No. 2 Morehead State

Racers Advance to OVC Volleyball Championship Match With Win Over Morehead State

11/21/2008 6:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Sophomore Sara Hayden made a difference in the No. 3 Murray State volleyball team's 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-21) victory over No. 2 Morehead State in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship semifinals. The Louisville, Ky., native tallied a season-high 18 kills and a .571 (18k-2e-28ta) attack percentage to lead the Racers (18-12, 13-5 OVC) to their first appearance in the OVC Championship match since 2003.

“Sara is a very good player who doesn't get flustered very much,” said head coach David Schwepker. “She has been in a lot of high pressure matches and that helps her. Last year she showed us her composure on the court and this year she has continued to improve.”

Freshman Logan Su and sophomore Ashley Nenninger each tallied 12 kills for MSU, while the team was led defensively by freshmen Kayleah Sauer with 21 digs.

The opening set was a close battle; with no team leading by more than five-points before the other tied the score again. With the score knotted at 14, Morehead State went on a 7-1 run to go up 21-16. The lead was all the Eagles needed, despite the battle renewing for the serve, Morehead State earned a 25-19 win. The Racers took some momentum back toward the end of the set, holding off two set points for the Eagles.

The battle continued into the next set. After an early 3-1 advantage for Morehead State, the Racers forced the first of 16 tie scores in the set at three. Neither team led by more than two points until MSU took a three-point advantage (22-19) with a 3-0 run. The next point was hard fought with strong Racer defense, especially from junior Cassie Chesney. MSU earned the point and then traded the next three serves with the Eagles, but the advantage that the Racers had built was enough to earn the 25-21 victory and was capped off on a kill by Hayden.

Besides early ties at one and two, MSU took control of the third set early, going up by four (10-6). The Eagles crept back in with a 4-1 run, but the Racers pushed the lead back out to and kept at least a three-point advantage until late in the set. MSU pulled away with a 3-0 run to take a 23-16 lead before Morehead State started to fight back. The Eagles forced extra-points by holding off six set-points before Kaitlin Craven sent a serve long to give MSU the 25-24 advantage. Freshman Jade Guo then ended the set for the Racers with a block solo.

MSU took an early 3-1 advantage in the fourth set and kept at least a two-point lead until Morehead State fought back and got within one point (13-12). The teams traded the next two serves before the Eagles tied the set at 14 and took their first advantage, 16-14, with a 3-0 run. The Racers tied the set at 16 and retook the lead (19-16) with a 5-0 run of their own. Morehead State kept fighting and got within one point (20-19) before another service error stopped its 4-0 run. MSU and the Eagles traded the next four points before the Racers ended the match with a 3-0 run.

Looking at the stat sheet you would think that Morehead State had earned the victory, as they out-killed, out-hit, and out-dug MSU. The Eagles had a 63-56 advantage in the kills column, out-hit the Racers .227 to .206, and tallied one more dig (81-80) than MSU. However the key to the win seemed to be at the service line as untimely service errors cost the Eagles. Morehead State recorded eight service errors to the Racers two.

MSU will now face the winner of the No. 1 Tennessee Tech vs. No. 4 Austin Peay semifinal match that begins at 7:30 p.m. The championship match is scheduled for 5 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 22 in Cookeville, Tenn.

“Both Austin Peay and Tennessee Tech are great volleyball programs,” said Schwepker. “We are going to respect any team that we face tomorrow.”

Notes: This is the first trip to the OVC Championship match for the Racers since they won the 2003 championship match and advanced to the NCAA tournament...senior Heather Norris is now just two more service aces from becoming the sixth Racer player to tally 1,000 digs and 100 service aces in her career.

Quotes

Head Coach David Schwepker

“Coach Ping and I have working very hard over the past few years to get back to the OVC Championship match. Our seniors have done a great job of building this program back up again.”