Volleyball Travels to North Carolina for Spartan-Aggie Invitational

Friday, September 6

Greensboro, N.C.

6 p.m.

Murray State

UNC Greensboro

Photo by: Murray State Sports Information

Volleyball Travels to North Carolina for Spartan-Aggie Invitational

9/5/2013 3:52:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Game Notes Live Stats Video

Racer volleyball continues this weekend as Murray State travels to Greensboro, N.C. to take part in the Spartan-Aggie Invitational, presented by Ashford Suites. MSU opens the weekend at host UNC Greensboro at 6 p.m. Friday before taking on Alabama State and North Carolina A&T Saturday.

The Racers began their 2013 season at the NCCU Invitational last weekend, going 1-2 in the three-game tournament. The win came in their final match of the weekend against host NCCU. MSU swept the Eagles 3-0 after dropping their first two matches 3-0 to Evansville and 3-1 to eventual winners Hampton.

The Racers did a nice job of spreading the ball around with Alyssa Lelm, Taylor Olden and Emily Schmahl each collecting at least 28 kills. Lelm's .444 attack percentage led to her being named to the All-Tournament team. Sophomore setter Sam Bedard enjoyed a career weekend as she set single-match highs in both assists (42) and kills (7). She also recorded two double-doubles, including a 42 kill, 12 digs performance against Hampton.

This weekend will be the first time the Racers face any of these opponents in their history.

UNC Greensboro opened their season last weekend at the Deacon Invitational at Wake Forest University. UNCG won their first two matches against East Tennessee St. and East Carolina before falling to hosts, Wake Forest.

The Spartans were led by a pair of All-Tournament players in senior Olivia Humphries and junior Kelsey Sidney. Humphries put down 45 kills in the three games to go along with a team-leading eight blocks and 23 digs while Sidney landed 16 kills and recorded seven blocks.

Returning to UNCG is senior Kerrian Chambers. Chambers, a preseason All-Conference and 2012 Second Team All-Southern Conference notched 19 kills and 11 digs in the opening weekend. For her career, Chambers' 3.05 kills per set ranks fifth in UNCG history. Chambers led the Spartans will 400 kills in 2012.

Alabama State started their season at the UCF Tournament, playing to a 0-4 record. The Lady Hornets will be in search of their first set win of the season as they enter the Spartan/Aggie Invitational. Alabama State has been competitive in most matches, but has been unable to pick up a win to this point.

Amber Bennett leads the Lady Hornet offense having accumulated 36 kills in 12 sets. She leads an Alabama St. attack that has seven players in double-digit kills. Defensively, the Lady Hornets are led by Luiza Griz who's tallied 34 digs and Latoya Ellington and her 11 blocks. As a team, the Lady Hornets have out-dug their opponents 134-128 and out-blocked them 26-13.

North Carolina A&T opened up their season at the Radford Tournament in Virginia, going 0-3 without winning a set. The Aggies fought a tightly contested battle with Winthrop last Tuesday, winning their first two sets of the season, before ultimately falling 3-2 to drop to 0-4 on the year.

Aleena McDaniel picked up her first double-double of the season with a 10 kill, 15 dig effort in the loss. McDaniel leads the Aggie offense with 30 kills in four matches. The sophomore finished second in kills her freshman year with 196 and second with 35 services aces. Fellow sophomore Brooke Stamnes has notched 28 kills for the Aggies while also tallying 24 digs. Ashley Johnson leads the defense with 47 digs and Liz Martino has dished out 74 assists.