Racers Travel to SEMO, UT Martin

Match Notes | Live Stats at SEMO
Video at SEMO | Live Stats at UTM

Murray State volleyball prepares for their final regular season weekend road trip of the season. The Racers will travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo. to take on Southeast Missouri Friday night before driving back to Martin, Tenn. to battle UT Martin Saturday afternoon.

The Racers lost their final two matches on their home stand against Tennessee State and Belmont to fall to 13-13 on the season (3-9, OVC). The Racers played well, keeping a number of sets close, but couldn't pull out a victory in either match. Murray State took a leg up in their match with Belmont winning the first set, but the Bruins came back to win the final three.

In their three set loss to Tennessee State, MSU allowed 58 kills in three sets. The Racers pushed the athletic Tigers to the limit in the first set, falling in extra points 28-30. They took a step back after the emotional loss in set one and dropped the final two 16-25 and 20-25. Sophomore Taylor Olden was the only Racer with double-figure kills, leading the team with ten. By contrast, the Tigers had three such players, with Naomi Wells leading the match with 22.

Saturday's match saw the Racers jump out to a 1-0 lead, but couldn't pick up another set win against Belmont. Freshman Scottie Ingram led the Racers with 13 kills as the team again saw only one student-athlete with double-digit kills. Like Tennessee State the night before, Belmont saw three players with at least ten kills. Jen Myer led the match with 16.

With their win last month, the Redhawks have now won three consecutive matches against the Racers. All time, SEMO holds a large 46-19 advantage and are 23-7 against Murray State in Cape Girardeau.

Southeast Missouri enters the match 6-6 in conference play having lost three of their past four matches, including one to non OVC opponent, Missouri State.

The Redbirds most impressive attributes come on the defensive side of the ball. SEMO leads the OVC in blocks per set averaging 2.42 and 2.59 in conference matches. The 2.42 blocks per set is good for 75^th in the NCAA. The Redbirds also hold the third best opponent hitting percentage in the conference at .189.

Southeast Missouri boasts two individuals in the top six in the OVC in blocks per set in Taylor Masterson and Emily Coon. With 118, Masterson leads the conference in total blocks. The duo averages 1.08 and .92 respectively. The two are also second (Coon, 258) and fourth (Masterson, 172) on the team in kills.

Leading point scorer, Colleen Yarber is ninth in the OVC in kills per set, coming in just shy of 3.00 with 2.99.

UT Martin and Murray State enter the weekend with identical 3-9 records in conference play. The Racers have defeated the Skyhawks in two straight matches including a 3-1 win at Racer Arena in October, but are below .500 (12-13) all time in Martin.

Before beating SIU Edwardsville last Saturday, the Skyhawks had dropped eight straight matches. UT Martin has not won back-to-back matches since the beginning of September.

Offensively, the Skyhawks have a trio of 200+ kill athletes. Emily Keaton leads the troika with 275, but is closely followed by Allie Whimpey. Lynsey Hazelwood is the final member of the three with 200 kills even. The Skyhawks are very adept at scoring points off the serve, ranking fourth in the conference in the category. They are one of only two teams with at least two athletes in the top-10 in service aces in the OVC (Morehead, 3). Hazelwood ranks fourth with .34 aces per set while Keaton is 10^th with .29.

Libero Chelsea Bowles checks in at number four in the OVC in digs per with 4.48.

Murray State University Athletics

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