Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Lipscomb
Racers Drop Non-Conference Match to Lipscomb
10/7/2009 2:45:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team fought hard, but fell to Lipscomb, 3-0 (20-25, 19-25, 22-25), in a non-conference match-up in Racer Arena.
The Racers (3-13, 3-3 Ohio Valley Conference) saw strong hitting performances from five players, who all hit over .300 in the match. Junior Becca Lamb led the team with 12 kills and earned a .320 (12k-4e-25ta) attack percentage, while sophomore Jade Guo led the team with a .375 (3k-0e-8ta) hitting percentage. Logan Su added a .304 (9k-2e-23ta) percentage, while junior Sara Hayden garnered a .357 (5k-0e-14ta) mark and sophomore Mary Cunningham tallied a .364 (6k-2e-11ta) mark.
“Our whole team played well tonight,” said head coach David Schwepker. “They really picked it up in the third set and played like we are capable of playing. Lipscomb is a tough team and we played them tough. We just had some problems with ball control.”
The opening set started out close with ties at one, two and four. After a four-all tie the Lady Bison (14-3) started a 4-0 run to earn the first lead of the match (8-4). MSU then mounted a come-back and forced a final tie during the set at nine, with a 5-1 run. Lipscomb took the final control of the scoreboard with a 2-0 run. The Lady Bison never let the Racers get closer than one point the rest of the set and led by as many as seven points on way to the 25-20 win.
Lipscomb opened the second set with momentum and quickly built a 10-4 advantage. MSU took a time out , regrouped and came back to the court ready to start an 8-3 run to cut the deficit to one point (12-13). The rally was sparked by a block from Guo and Cunningham and included three total blocks for the Racers. The one-point deficit was as close as the Lady Bison allowed MSU to get, as they took control again with a 4-2 run to push the lead back out to three points (17-14). Lipscomb kept the pressure on the Racers and allowed them to score just five more points in the set on way to the 25-19 win.
The final set was a back-and-forth battle with 13 tie scores and six lead changes. MSU took the first lead larger than two points (18-15) with a 3-0 run that included three kills from junior Ashley Nenninger. The teams resumed the battled and traded the next four serves before Lipscomb started a 6-0 run to not only tie the score, but also take the final lead of the match (23-20) and ended with the 25-22 win.
The Racers will hit the road and return to OVC action this weekend, with important matches against Eastern Kentucky (Oct. 9) and Morehead State (Oct. 10). MSU faces EKU, Friday at 6 p.m. and Morehead State, Saturday at 1 p.m.
“We have to win this weekend,” Schwepker said. “EKU had a great weekend last weekend and they will be pumped up and ready to play. We need to go in focused and I know that we should do well.”
Quotes:
Head Coach David Schwepker
“We struggled a little tonight passing and passing is key to winning.”
“Lipscomb is a strong team, who plays hard and that is exactly what they did tonight.”
“Logan Su did a great job tonight and Jade Guo did a good job getting the sets up that we needed.”
