Racers Open Conference Play on road at TTU & JSU

Friday, September 27

Cookville, Tenn.

7 p.m.

Murray State

Tennessee Tech

9/26/2013 12:29:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes | Live Stats vs. Tennessee Tech | Video vs. Tennessee Tech
Live Stats vs. Jacksonville State

Off to their best start since the 2006 season, Murray State will begin their conference schedule on the road this weekend against foes Tennessee Tech and Jacksonville State. The Racers who have won three in a row and six of their last seven, will look for their third straight win in OVC openers.

The red-hot Racers are seeing their names appear amongst the NCAA ranks. As a team, MSU ranks sixth in digs per set with 18.17. Individually, Alyssa Lelm is tied for 54^th with a .383 attack percentage and Sam Bedard is tied for 104^th with 9.92 assists per set.

Last weekend the Racers swept their third consecutive tournament this season with three straight wins at the High Point Classic in High Point, N.C. The Racers survived a hard-fought battle with Davidson (3-2) before defeating both High Point and North Carolina A&T in straight sets. Setter Sam Bedard was named tournament MVP after handing out 101 assists and landing nine kills. Alyssa Lelm was named to her third all-tournament team, she finished with 49 kills and a .478 attack percentage.

The match with Davidson saw a number of career-bests by the Racers, perhaps none more impressive than Bedard's double-double. Bedard dished out 65 assists, tying the most by any Racer since Jade Guo in 2010. You would have to go back to 2007 to find the last Racer with more than 65 assists in a single match, Cassie Chesney with 67. That wasn't all for Bedard. She also set a career-high with 25 digs.

Lelm was a force on offense against Davidson, logging a career-high 23 kills. Perhaps more impressively, was Lelm's .512 attack percentage to go along with her 23 kills. That is the highest attack percentage with at least 20 kills since Abbi Gui notched a .562 attack percentage on 20 kills.

The Racers finished off the High Point Classic with sweeps of High Point and North Carolina, their second win over the Aggies this season. MSU found themselves in a few sticky situations against High Point, but managed to keep calm and pull out three close sets against High Point. Five of the six sets against the Panthers and Aggies were decided by six points or less.

The weekend begins Friday night at Tennessee Tech. These two squads have met at least once each year since 1983, with the exception of 1985, with the Racers holding a 32-26 advantage in the series. The teams have alternated wins and losses the past five matches, with the Racers coming out on top last season, 3-0. The Golden Eagles have defended their turf well, winning the last five matches to take place in Cookeville, Tenn.

Tennessee Tech enters conference play 4-6 and losers of three of their last four. Their last win came against Stony Brook of Long Island at the Kennesaw Invitational Sept. 14.

The Golden Eagles share the ball with four athletes tallying between 80 and 98 kills. Elise Robertson is the leader with 98 and is also hit.g .277% while Cody Dodd's .296 attack percentage leads the squad. She also has 86 kills. Dodd leads a defense has 78 blocks with 31 total Madison Keyes and Robertson also have 29 and 27 blocks respectively.

The Racers will then turn around and travel to Jacksonville, Ala. Saturday afternoon to take on Jacksonville State. Saturday will mark the 11^th consecutive year these two schools have squared off. MSU won the first battle in 2003, but Jacksonville State has had the upper hand recently with eight straight wins. The Racers last beat Jax State in 2008. In 2012, the Gamecocks swept the Racers at Racer Arena.

The Gamecocks sit at 7-8 for the season and have recently come off of a four-game winning streak. The Gamecocks have won five of their last seven but dropped two-of-three at the Tennessee Invitational with losses to Coastal Carolina and Georgia Tech and a win at Tennessee.

Jacksonville State has a pair of student-athletes with more than 100 kills. Emily Rutherford leads the way with 158 and Nicole Merget, OVC co-Offensive Player of the week two weeks ago has 129. Rutherford has double-digit kills in four of her last five matches and a double-double in two of those.

Abbey Heredia has been the primary setter of late with double-figure assists in eight straight matches. She had a season-high 43 assists in a win at Tennessee last weekend. Kelly Cole leads the defense with 230 digs. At 4.60 digs per set she ranks 66^th in the NCAA.

Tennessee Tech has also used a pair of setters in their 10 matches. Sharon Anderson holds a slight lead with 174 assists in 20 sets, but Ashleigh Hancock has seen 24 sets and dished out 167 assists.