Racers Set to End Regular Season in Racer Arena

Friday, November 12

Racer Arena

7:00 PM

Murray State

Eastern Kentucky

Sara Hayden has stepped up her performance over the past few weeks and will be one of three players to play in their last matches in Racer Arena this weekend.

Photo by: Fred Mullane

11/10/2010 11:01:01 AM | Women's Volleyball

The Murray State volleyball team will be competing in the final two regular-season matches of the 2010 campaign this weekend. The Racers (13-15, 8-8 OVC) will be facing Eastern Kentucky, Friday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m., with Parents Night taking place before the start of the match. Saturday, Nov. 13 will not only pit MSU against the 2010 OVC Regular-Season Champions of Morehead State, at 2 p.m., but will also be the annual Senior Day.

Conference Championship Watch
The Racers are among six teams vying for the final four places in the 2010 OVC Championship. Morehead State (15-1) has claimed the No. 1 spot and Austin Peay (13-4) has secured the No. 2 position. Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State are tied for third at 9-7, with Murray State in 5th at 8-8. Eastern Illinois, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State are virtually tied in sixth at 7-9/7-10. The Racers will have to wait for the outcome of all the OVC matches this weekend to learn if they make the field of six and what seed the will receive.

Scouting Eastern Kentucky
The Colonels have a 11-15 overall record, but are in a tie for third in the OVC standings, with a 9-7 mark.

EKU has three main hitters, all with over 200 kills. Autumn Harms is the most consistent hitter on the team, with a .218 (221k-96e-574ta) hitting percentage, but she sees close to half the number of swings that Ashley Edmond and Lauren Snyder get. Edmond leads the team with 333 kills and 1017 attempts, but has a .148 attack percentage. Snyder hits at a .162 pace, with 292 kills, 145 errors, and 910 attempts.

As a team the Colonels have a .160 hitting percentage, with only two members of the team hitting above .200. However, EKU holds its opponents to a .196 mark. Despite their winning OVC record, the Colonels trail their opponents in most areas on the box score. The only area that they have a slight advantage is in digs at 16.1 to 15.6 per set.

Against the Colonels
The Racers struggled to get a consistent offense going against EKU in the earlier match this season in Richmond, Ky. MSU fell 0-3 and were out-hit .159 to .209, but earned advantages in blocking (5-3).

Senior Becca Lamb led the Racers with a .381 (9k-1e-21ta) hitting percentage, while junior Logan Su added 11 kills and three blocks.

The Colonels were led by their trio of top performers. Autumn Harms tallied 14 kills and a .471 (14k-3e-23ta) hitting percentage. Everyone else on the team hit .100 or lower in the match, with Ashley Edmond adding 13 kills and Lauren Snyder garnering 11.

The Series
After falling in the last two matches, the Colonels have tied the all-time series at 28 matches each. However, the Racers hold a 14-9 advantage when playing in Murray.

Scouting Morehead State
The Eagles head to Murray as the 2010 OVC Regular-Season champs after clinching the title last week. Morehead has a 22-7 overall record and a 15-1 mark in the conference after winning its last eight matches.

The Eagles have two go-to players on offense, with each having over 725 attempts and 250 kills. Kaitlin Craven is the standout leader of that group with a .228 hitting percentage (219k-111e-911ta) and 37 service aces. Holly Evans is also a threat for Morehead, with a .374 hitting percentage (312k-64e-663ta) and 78 blocks. Annie Gruenschlaeger is the team's defensive leader with 102 (14-88) blocks.

Morehead has a strong team hitting percentage, with a .230 mark and also holds its opponents to a .157 mark. The Eagles are strong in all areas of the box scores, with their closest stat column in blocks (2.1 to 1.8 per set).

Against the Eagles
In the first meeting between Morehead and Murray State this season the Eagles earned a 0-3 victory. The Racers were out-hit .139 to .271 and had just one service ace to Morehead's six.

Senior Ashley Nenninger led MSU with 12 kills and a .400 (12k-2-e25ta) hitting percentage.

Holly Evans and Ellie Roberson were the leaders for the Eagles. Roberson tallied 11 kills and a .421 (11k-3e-19ta) hitting percentage. Evans added 10 kills and three blocks.

The Series
The Eagles lead the all-time series 26-33, but the Racers have a 15-8 advantage when playing in Racer Arena despite Morehead earning wins in the last two meetings in Murray.

Sara Stepping Up
Senior Sara Hayden has stepped up her performance over the past few weeks. Since Oct. 26, Hayden has tallied double-digit kills in four of the five matches. The Louisville, Ky., native also tallied her second career double-double, with 11 kills and a career-high 11 digs against UT Martin. She has also added to her blocks totals and has moved into 2nd on the career block assist charts (228),to 4th on the Total Block list (274) and to 10th on the block solos (46) lists at MSU.

Woolverton Making Presence Known
After seeing limited action all season, sophomore Cassy Woolverton has made an impact in the line-up in the last four matches. The Gideon, Mo., native has played a key role in those matches and had a standout performance at Tennessee Tech. Woolverton tallied career-bests of 21 kills, a .333 hitting percentage, and two blocks against the Golden Eagles.

Making the List
Senior Becca Lamb became just the ninth Racers player to record 1,000 Kills in their career, when she landed her first kill against Tennessee Tech (Oct. 2) in Racer Arena. The Highland, Ill., native has now tallied 1,116 kills, which places her 6th on the all-time kills list at MSU. She is six from 5th held by Stephanie Diebold (1,122) and 89 from 4th held by Lea Ann Allen (1,205). Fellow seniors Sara Hayden and Ashley Nenninger are also trying to make the list this season. Hayden needs 46 kills and Nenninger needs 33.

Quick Sets
Junior Jade Guo is 62 assists from taking over 2nd on the All-Time Assists chart at MSU from Denise Donnelly (3,444)...junior Kayleah Sauer moved into 6th on the all-time dig list at MSU, with 1,577 and needs 22 to move into 5th held by Jill Doty (1,599)...Ashley Nenninger has made her way onto the total block and block assists lists this season...she is currently 10th in total blocks (187), one from 9th, and 8th in block assists (144), nine from 7th (153).