Racers Conclude Season with Win at EKU

Saturday, November 16

Richmond, Ky.

3 p.m.

Murray State

16-14 (6-10OVC)

Eastern Kentucky

17-15 (9-7OVC)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Murray State	25	22	25	25	3
Eastern Kentucky	19	25	19	16	1

Sam Bedard finished the season with 1,115 assists

11/16/2013 9:01:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

| Season Stats

Having been eliminated from the OVC Tournament on Tuesday didn't stop the Murray State Volleyball team from ending the season on a high note. For the second consecutive season, the Racers (16-14, 6-10 OVC) ended their season with a win against EKU. Last year at home and this year in Richmond, Ky. 3-1 (25-19, 22-25, 25-19, 25-16).

Head Coach David Schwepker was pleased with his team's effort in their final game saying, "We played extremely well today. It might have been our most complete game all season." And with a team comprised nearly entirely of freshmen and sophomores, the match may be one to build on heading into the spring and eventually the 2014 season.

Alyssa Lelm ended her fine season with a match-high 14 kills and .345 attack percentage. Lelm racked up 373 kills this season, the most in a single-season since Ashley Nenninger recorded 399 in 2010. Lelm also knocked back a career-high 12 blocks.

Emily Schmahl finished a kill behind Lelm with 13. Taylor Olden and Scottie Ingram each chipped in nine and Sam Bedard added eight. Bedard also finished with a match-high 42 assists and 14 digs for a double-double. Her 42 assists give her 1,115 for the season, the most in a single season since Jade Guo in 2010 handed out 1,248.

Murray State got off to a slow start in the opening frame. The Colonels were on the board first and held an 8-5 lead. EKU kept the lead at three, 12-9, when the Racers made their move. MSU went on a 9-2 run to take their first lead of the set and never gave it up. Eastern Kentucky called a timeout trailing 18-14, but the damage had been done. The Racers were able to cruise to a 25-19 set win and took a 1-0 lead.

In set No. 2 it was Murray State's turn to take an 8-5 lead. And like EKU in the previous set, the Racers were unable to hold onto the early lead. The Colonels took an 11-10 lead and kept pouring on the points, extending their lead to eight, 22-14. The Racers did score eight of the next 10 points to put a scare into EKU, cutting the lead to two, 24-22, but it was too little too late and the Colonels ended the set with a kill from Johanna Boyer to tie the match.

The third set continued the trend of teams giving up early leads. The Colonels appeared in control of the set up 14-8, but that just meant the Racers had them right where they wanted them. After bringing the lead down to two, 18-16, MSU scored eight straight points before Ingram gave the Racers a 2-1 match lead with her third kill of the set.

Murray State took their first lead of the fourth set at 3-2 and never looked back jumping out to a 15-8 lead. The Racers maintained control of the set and enjoyed an easy 25-16 win to take their final match of the season. Bedard led the Racers with five kills in the final frame.

Alexis Plagens led the Colonels with 13 kills. Dena Ott paced the defensive effort with 33 digs and Abbey Cvelbar dished out 39 assists.

With the win the Racers have their first winning season since 2008 when they finished 19-12. Their six conference wins are also the most since 2011.