Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
UT Martin
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Racers Earn 3-1 Victory at UT Martin
9/23/2010 12:28:12 AM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team earned a 3-1 (25-10, 20-25, 25-18, 25-20) victory over UT Martin at the Elam Center. The win moved the Racers record to 5-8 overall and 2-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
MSU was led by senior Becca Lamb, who tallied her team-leading fourth double-double of the season. The Highland, Ill., native garnered 11 kills and 14 digs and added a .310 hitting percentage (11k-2e-29ta), three assists and one service ace. Junior Jade Guo also added a double-double to her season totals, with 34 assists and 11 digs.
Junior Kayleah Sauer led a defense that had four players record double-digit dig totals. Sauer garnered 24 digs and added a career-best four service aces.
The Racers opened the first set with a 9-0 run and never looked back. MSU only allowed the Skyhawks to garner more than one point in-a-row twice during the set and never allowed them to get more than three-straight points on the way to a 25-10 victory.
After recording just five service aces in the last two matches combined, the Racers connected on five in the first set against the Skyhawks. Guo and Sauer each tallied two and freshman Katlyn Hudson added a single ace.
The Skyhawks came out ready to fight in the second set and it was a much closer battle, with no team leading by more than three points until the scoreboard read 8-6 in favor of MSU. That is when UTM went on a 6-0 run that gave them the lead for the rest of the set. The Racers did tie the set at 13, but were never able to regain the advantage and went into the intermission tied at one-set a piece after a Skyhawks' 20-25 win.
The third set was a back-and-forth battle at the beginning. However, after UTM took a 6-8 lead the Racers countered with a 5-0 run that gave them the lead for the rest of the set. The Skyhawks kept fighting, but were only able to cut the lead to one point (14-13) before MSU picked up the momentum and earned the 25-18 win on an 11-4 run.
The fourth set saw the teams trading serves until the last third of the set. The Racers and UTM combined for 12 tie scores and five lead changes in the final set, with MSU earning the final swing. The Racers were trailing UTM by one (14-15) when they went on a 4-0 run that gave them the lead for good. The run started a 7-4 run to end the set with the 25-20 victory.
The key statistic that helped the Racers to victory came in the service column. MSU had a 9-1 advantage in the service ace column and a 2-11 advantage in the service error column. The Skyhawks earned a clear advantage in the blocking column, netting 13 blocks to the Racers two.
The Racers will finally end their season-opening road swing this weekend when they host SIU Edwardsville at the newly renovated Racer Arena. MSU plays host to the Cougars, Saturday, Sep. 25 at noon as part of the Murray State Family Weekend festivities.
Notes: Senior Becca Lamb is now just 33 kills away from joining the 1,000 Kill Club at MSU…the Racers earned the match victory on a Skyhawks service error…it was the second match in-a-row that MSU earned the match victory with an opponent service error.
