Racers Fall to Skyhawks at Skyhawk Fieldhouse

Saturday, October 1

Martin, Tenn.

2:00 PM

Murray State

UT Martin

Junior Cassy Woolverton tallied a career-best 22 kills and hit .327 against UT Martin.

Photo by: Murray State Sports Information

10/1/2011 7:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

The Murray State volleyball team fell at UT Martin, 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 23-25, 21-25), in Skyhawk Fieldhouse after a week off of Ohio Valley Conference action.

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The Racers (3-14, 3-3 OVC) were led by junior Cassy Woolverton, who tallied a career-best 22 kills and a .327 (22k-4e-55ta) hitting percentage. Senior Teresa Krog was the other member of the team with a double-digit kill total (12). Senior Kayleah Sauer led the defense with 29 digs, with junior Lydia Orf adding 11 and sophomore Wendi Zickfield garnering 10.

The Racers started out the first set by falling behind 3-7 after a few short runs by the Skyhawks. UTM pushed its lead to six (5-11) before MSU started to fight back. The Racers cut the lead to two (10-12), with a 4-0 run, and then took a 15-14 lead with another 4-0 run. The Skyhawks and MSU then traded runs before, with the scoreboard reading 20-19, in favor of the Racers, MSU went on one more 4-0 run to give it a 24-19 advantage. UTM avoided one set-point, but then a service error allowed the Racers to earn the 25-20 win.

The Skyhawks again started the second set, with a lead. This time UTM built its lead to six (3-9) before the Racers again mounted a comeback. MSU battled back with several small runs and tied the set at 14. The teams then traded serves and runs for most of the set. However, it was a 2-0 run with the score tied at 22 that allowed the Skyhawks to use the momentum to earn a 25-23 win.

The teams battled through the start of the third set with the score within three until the middle of the set. The Racers then used an 11-2 run to take a six-point advantage (20-14). However, the Skyhawks were not done fighting and used a 9-2 run of their own to finish out the set with a 25-23 win.

UTM took to momentum they had gained at the end of the third set into the fourth and jumped out to an early 5-1 lead. The Skyhawks kept up the pressure throughout the set, recording more than one point in most of their side outs, while allowing the Racers to earn just one point at a time for most of theirs. The Racers made one final push with the scoreboard reading 21-8, in favor of UTM. MSU went on a 12-2 run that cut the lead to three (23-20), but the Skyhawks lead was too much to overcome. UTM took the set and the match with a 25-21 win.

The match was expected to be a defensive battle, and it lived up to it. The teams both hit under .200 and recorded over 75 digs each. The Racers hit .181 (50k-20e-166ta) and tallied 79 digs, with the Skyhawks hitting .199 (61k-26e-176ta) and garnered 78 digs.

The Racers will now return home to host SIU Edwardsville, Tuesday, Oct. 4 at Racer Arena. The first serve will fly at 7 p.m. and the match will conclude the first OVC series between the two teams.