Racers Drop Four-Set Match to Morehead in First Match at Home

Friday, September 18

Racer Arena

7 p.m.

Murray State

Morehead State

Racers Drop Four-Set Match to Morehead in First Match at Home

9/19/2009 3:30:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

The Murray State volleyball team dropped a tight match to Morehead State, 1-3 (23-25, 21-25, 25-21, 23-25), in the first home and Ohio Valley Conference match of the 2009 campaign.

The Racers (0-10, 0-1 OVC) were led by junior Becca Lamb, who tallied a career-best 21 kills. The Highland, Ill., native hit .326 (21k-6e-46ta) and added four blocks, two digs and two assists. Junior Ashley Nenninger was also strong for MSU, with her first career double-double (12 kills and 11 digs).

“Becca and Ashley had a lot more confidence in themselves tonight,” said head coach David Schwepker. “I am really proud of their performance and I hope that they can continue to produce in this range consistently this season.”

Blocking was a key factor in the match, with a total of 23 total team blocks being recorded. The Racers held a slight advantage in the category, with a season-best 12. MSU's 22 block assists tied the school record for block assists in a match. The previous mark of 22 was set, Nov. 2, 1996 against Morehead in Racer Arena.

“We changed our blocking two weeks ago,” Schwepker said. “The team is working really hard to keep improving.”

The first set was close, with the score tied or one team holding a slight advantage. With the score tied at 16, the Eagles (8-4, 1-0 OVC) went on a 2-0 run to take the final lead of the set. MSU kept the set close, but the advantage that Morehead had built was enough to claim the 25-23 win.

The Eagles opened the second set with the momentum and quickly earned a 3-0 lead. The Racers fought back to tie the set at seven, but that was as close as they got to an advantage. Morehead then rattled off three-straight points and held on to win 25-21.

After the 10-minute intermission the Racers came out of the locker room with renewed confidence and earned the first two points and never let the Eagles get closer than one point the rest of the set. MSU pushed ahead for good with a 5-0 run, with freshman Lydia Orf serving, to take an 8-2 lead. Morehead closed the gap to one point (18-17), with a 4-1 run, but a kill from Nenninger on the next point put the Racers back in control and they went on to take the set, 25-21.

It looked like MSU would be able to force a fifth set, as they started the fourth set with a 2-0 run and held the advantage until the half-way point. The Racers pushed the lead out to as many as four points during the first half of the set, but the Eagles tied the set at 15 with a 6-2 run. Sophomore Mary Cunningham then landed a kill on the next serve to give MSU the advantage, and the Racers pushed back out to a three-point lead. Morehead then battled back to tie the score at 21, with a 3-0 run. The teams then traded the next four servers to see the score knotted as 23. The final two servers went in favor of the Eagles to give them the set and match victory.

The match scores was not the only category on the stat sheet that saw close numbers. Every column saw a one to three-point difference between the teams. The Racers recorded a season-best 57 kills, 12 total team blocks, and 52 assists, with Morehead garnering 59 kills, 11 total team blocks, and 53 assists.

“We are finally getting more stable,” said Schwepker. “This match could have gone either way. Right now we are just struggling with getting over the hump. I'm still not sure what is causing it, but as soon as the team figures it out we will be fine.”

MSU recorded a hitting percentage over .200 for the third match in a row, with a .222 (57k-23e-153ta). The percentages have allowed the Racers to improve their overall attack percentage on the year from .134 to .165.

MSU will continue its three-match home stand, Saturday, Sep. 19 when Eastern Kentucky comes to Racer Arena. The Colonels head to Murray with a 0-10, 0-1 OVC mark after having a challenging opening tournament schedule, like MSU, and falling in five set to UT Martin Friday night.