Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
12-9, 2-5OVC
SIU Edwardsville
8-12, 4-3OVC
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murray State | 20 | 30 | 20 | 20 | 1 |
| SIU Edwardsville | 25 | 28 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
Racers Can’t Tame Cougars
10/18/2013 11:01:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Murray State volleyball suffered another setback, this time at the hands of SIU Edwardsville. The two squads played in four tightly contested sets, but it was the Cougars who came out with a 3-1 win (20-25, 30-28, 25-20, 25-20). The Racers fall to 12-9 overall and 2-5 in the OVC.
The Racer offense was led by the troika of Alyssa Lelm, Taylor Olden and Scottie Ingram. All three recorded a team-high 12 kills. Emily Schmahl also finished in double figures, with 10. Ingram recorded her 11th double-double of the season by adding 15 digs to her 12 kills. Sam Bedard also finished with a double-double with a team-high 43 assists and 11 digs.
MSU opened the match hot, climbing out to a 12-8 lead in the first set. SIUE took the lead back however with a 5-0 run. After Murray State retied the match 15-15, SIUE pushed the lead back to four, 19-15 and never looked back claiming the set, 25-20. Taylor Held connected for five of her 11 kills in the set.
Set No. 2 was a real barn-burner which drew 13 ties and eight lead changes. This time it was MSU playing the comeback role as they fell behind early, 13-6. Just when it looked like the Cougars were set to go ahead 2-0, the Racers stormed back, scoring 13 of the next 18 points to reclaim their first lead since the opening points, 19-18. Up 24-23, the Racers had a chance to end the set, but it was Held again with a kill to even up the score. It was now the Cougars who had a chance to end the set up 27-26, but Murray State again came from behind, rattled off three straight points, and evened the match 1-1 with a 30-28 win.
After scoring the first six points of the third set, the Cougars were able to cruise the rest of the way to a 25-20 set win and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
The Racers got out ahead in the fourth and final set 9-7, but could not sustain the lead. After the Cougars reclaimed the lead with a 4-0 stretch, they never looked back, extending their lead to as large at nine before going on to win by five, 25-20. Cori Harris landed eight kills in the set, the most in any set this match.
Harris, the OVC leader in kills in conference play, finished with a match-high 22. Joining her in double-digit kills was Held and Kelsey Augustine with 11 apeice.
This match featured two squads in the top 10 in the NCAA in digs. Murray State came in ranked fourth (17.88 digs per set) with the Cougars slightly behind in eighth (17.53). It was the Cougars though who held a slight advantage in digs, 73-71. Chelsea Colclasure, who is 10th in the NCAA in digs per set, led the match with 22.
The Racers continue their Illinois roadtrip tomorrow evening with an OVC match against Eastern Illinois. First serve is slated for 6 p.m.
