Volleyball Ends Season at Eastern Kentucky

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Women's volleyball concludes their season at Eastern Kentucky Saturday (Nov. 16). The Racer's playoff hopes were dashed with their loss to Austin Peay, but the team has a chance to finish with their first winning record since 2008 and is guaranteed their first non-losing season since that same year.

Against Austin Peay, MSU held two leads in the match, 1-0 and 2-1, but were unable to close the door. Taylor Olden and Emily Schmahl led the Racers with 15 kills. For Schmahl, she tied her season best in the category. Alyssa Lelm also finished with more than 10 kills with 11.

Setter Sam Bedard managed the offense and led the defensive charge. Bedard recorded a team-best 49 assists and 17 digs. Olden also recorded a double-double with 13 digs.

Murray State lost the attack percentage battle .196 to .138. It was the team's lowest attack percentage since Oct. 18 when they hit .000% against SEMO.

A few Racers have a chance to reach some milestones in this match. Lelm is one kill away from 500 for her career. Bedard needs 51 assists to move into 10^th place on the single-season assists list. Katlyn Hudson needs 24 digs for 400 this season and 34 to jump to 12^th place on the all-time digs list.

Against EKU, Murray State holds a slim 32-29 all-time lead in the series. The two teams have closed out the regular season each of the past two seasons. The Racers came away with a win in 2012, defeating the Colonels 3-2 for their eighth win of the season and fourth in the OVC.

After finishing 5-11 in the OVC last season, the Colonels have turned around with nine conference wins in 2013. Eastern Kentucky is tied with Austin Peay for fourth place in the OVC with a 9-6 record heading into the final Saturday.

The Colonels might be the hottest team in the conference heading towards the postseason, winning five of their last six matches. On Tuesday, EKU handed top-seeded Morehead State their first conference loss this season and snapped the Eagles 36-match OVC winning streak with a 3-2 win.

Senior outside hitter Ashley Edmond leads the OVC with 3.66 kills per set. In conference play, she is one of only two athletes with more than 200 kills (205). Edmond has recorded double-digit kills in 13 straight matches and recorded a season-high 22 kills in just three sets against Tennessee Tech.

In addition to Edmond, EKU has gotten contributions from Alexis Plagens and Rachel Vick. Plagens has notched 347 kills this season and Vick has put down 247 with a .248 attack percentage. Plagens is also third in the conference with .38 service aces per set and is tied for second with 21 total aces.

Setter Abbey Cvelbar leads the team with 7.24 assists per set this season and 789 total. Over her last 11 matches however, Cvelbar has upped her average 10.64 assists per set.

Murray State University Athletics

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