Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
9-4
High Point
5-8
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Murray State | 26 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| High Point | 24 | 22 | 19 | 0 |
Bedard, Lelm lead Racers to High Point Classic Crown
9/21/2013 6:31:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
With a thrilling five-set win over Davidson Friday night, it would be hard to replicate that kind of intensity with a quick turnaround match the following afternoon. But Murray State was able to play with the same fight that led them to a come-from-behind victory over the Wildcats. In what seemed like an extension of Friday night's match, MSU battled in three tightly contested bouts, coming out the victor in each one in a 3-0 win over tournament host High Point. They then completed their third straight tournament sweep with a 3-0 win over North Carolina A&T.
Following the match, Sam Bedard was named Tournament MVP and Alyssa Lelm was named to the All-Tournament team. Bedard finished with 102 assists, including a career-best 65 in the first match against Davidson. Lelm landed 49 kills, a career-best 23 coming against Davidson. She also hit .478 for the tournament and had back-to-back matches of 12+ kills and at least a .500 attack percentage.
In regards to his team's performance, Coach Schwepker had this to say, "This was a good test for us heading into conference play. We still have things to work on, but I'm extremely happy with the way we handled ourselves in tight situations. We had a very good weekend."
Match One – Murray State 3, High Point 0 – (26-24, 25-22, 25-19)
The first set was a real clash with neither team gaining more than a four point advantage. The set saw 12 ties and seven lead changes as both teams fought to gain the early upper-hand. The score was knotted up, 22-22, when the Panthers called a timeout. But it was Murray State who was able to score after the break with Lelm landing back-to-back kills to give her team a 24-22 lead. High Point was able to regroup and re-tie the match, 24-24, but a pair of costly errors gave the Racers a 26-24 win.
Set No. 2 picked up where the first ended with seven more ties and two lead changes. The match remained close late with the score tied at 17-apiece. The Racers then scored the next three points to retake the lead they would never relinquish as they went on to a 25-22 win and took a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Panthers didn't give up though and held the lead for much of the early portion of the third set. Trailing by two, 13-11, MSU went on a 4-0 run to take a two point lead of their own, 15-13. After a Panther timeout, High Point charged back and answered with their own 4-0 run, retaking the lead, 17-15. Murray State then scored four of the next six points, and with the set even at 19-19, the Racers scored the final six points, winning the match with a 25-19 victory. Scottie Ingram played a big role down the stretch, landing three kills in the Racers final 10 points.
For the second straight match, Lelm led the Racers in kills (13) and did so with an attack percentage of .500 or better (.500). Ingram followed Lelm with a 10 kill, 16 dig performance. Four Racers had double-digit dig efforts, Ingram and Katlyn Hudson led the way with 16 digs followed by Bedard and Taylor Olden with 10 each.
Match Two – Murray State 3, North Carolina A&T 0 – (25-12, 25-19, 25-20)
The Racers stormed out of the gate in set No. 1 with an 8-2 lead. The Aggies closed the gap to four, 13-9, but MSU concluded the set with a 12-3 run to win going away, 25-12.
The second set was a much closer affair with North Carolina holding a brief 11-10 lead. Murray State scored the next five points, thanks in part to four Aggie attack errors, and never looked back, winning 25-19 and taking a 2-0 match lead.
MSU again jumped out to an 8-2 lead in set number three, but North Carolina A&T didn't fade as quickly. The Aggies crawled back into the set, getting to within a single point, 11-10. The Racers then went on a 5-1 run and never looked back, on their way to a 25-20 win.
Just as in the earlier game, Lelm and Ingram finished with 13 and 10 kills respectively to lead the Racers. Ingram also had 12 digs, giving her a double-double in each game of the tournament and her sixth in the past eight games.
Olden paced the defense with 19 digs and Hannah Stultz finished a dig shy of a double-double with 30 assists and nine digs.
The Racers will now begin the OVC portion of their schedule. Their first conference game will be Friday, Sep. 27 at Tennessee Tech. MSU's first three OVC matches will take place on the road with Jacksonville State and Austin Peay following Tennessee Tech.Â
