Racers Soar Past Golden Eagles For Third Straight Victory

Friday, October 23

Racer Arena

7 p.m.

Murray State

Tennessee Tech

Racers Soar Past Golden Eagles For Third Straight Victory

10/24/2009 2:45:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

The Murray State volleyball team extended its winning streak to three matches with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-17) victory over Tennessee Tech in Racer Arena. The Racers improved to 6-15 overall and 6-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The match was also the first match of two for the Swinging To Eliminate Cancer fund raiser.

MSU saw contributions across the board on both offense and defense. Mary Cunningham and Sara Hayden adding seven, junior Ashley Nenninger tallying six and junior Becca Lamb and sophomore David Schwepker. “That is evident in the fact that tonight's win was a complete team effort.”

Sophomore Kayleah Sauer led the team with 17 digs, with seven more players adding at least one. Hayden was the key blocker for the Racers, as she tallied six block assists.

The Golden Eagles (8-13, 7-5 OVC) earned the first two points of the match, but saw their advantage quickly slip away when MSU tied the set at two. After trading the next two serves the Racers used a 4-0 run to take the final lead of the set, 6-4. The two-point advantage was all that MSU needed the rest of the set, building as much as an eight-point lead and earning the 25-17 win.

The beginning of the second set was a back-and-forth battle with six tie scores. The final knot in the score was at 12-12, but a kill from Guo started a 4-1 run to give the Racers the final lead of the set. TTU fought back and got within one point (19-18) before MSU held them to just two more points the rest of the set on its way to a 25-20 win.

The Golden Eagles took an early 2-0 lead in the third set and again the Racers dissolved it and took control of the set with a 4-0 run (7-4). The three point deficit was as close as TTU got the rest of the match, with MSU building its lead to as many as eight points on the way to the 25-17 win.

The Racers had a strong match in all statistical categories, but earned clear advantages in hitting percentage and blocking. MSU recorded seven total team blocks, while the Golden Eagles combined for just three. The seven blocks from the Racers also helped contribute to a large difference in hitting percentage, as TTU recorded 25 errors and a .093 (36k-25e-118ta) attack percentage to MSU's 10 errors and .282 (39k-10e-103ta) hitting percentage.

“Our block was strong tonight,” Schwepker added. “We were keying on the players that we needed to on their team. Having a strong block forced Tennessee Tech to try different things and into a lot of errors.”

The Racers will host Jacksonville State Saturday, Oct. 24 at 2 p.m. in Racer Arena for the final match of the Swinging To Eliminate Cancer fund raiser. The volleyball team has already raised over $1100, with more expected to come from attack attempt donations after the weekends matches are completed. The Gamecocks head to Murray with a 19-5 overall record and a perfect 12-0 mark in league play after defeating UT Martin Friday, 3-1.

Notes: Mary Cunningham tallied a career-best .583 hitting percentage (8k-1e-12ta) and added a career-high two assists… Becca Lamb added a career-best seven digs.