Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Jacksonville State
Players Mentioned
Racers Open OVC Tournament Against JSU
11/16/2016 7:47:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Date: Nov. 17, 2016
Match Time: 7 p.m.
Opponent: Jacksonville State
Site: Racer Arena
Watch Live: OVC Digital Network
Live Stats
MSU Record (Streak): 20-8 (W12)
JSU Record (Streak): 18-18 (L1)
All-Time Series vs. JSU: JSU leads the all-time series 14-6
Thursday
The Murray State volleyball team looks to win its second OVC Tournament title in three years as the Racers begin OVC Tournament play Thursday against eighth-seeded Jacksonville State. The top-seeded Racers will host the tournament for the third consecutive season after they clinched their third-straight OVC regular season championship last weekend.
Last Weekend
The Racers earned the right to host after pushing their winning streak to 12 matches in-a-row, thanks to a pair of victories in the final weekend against Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville. MSU had to come from behind in both matches, defeating the Panthers in four sets Friday and in then defeated SIUE Saturday night in a five-set slugfest. MSU is now 44-4 in OVC play during the last three seasons.
Raising Another Banner
In addition to Saturday's OVC-clinching victory and it being Senior Night, Saturday was special in another way as well as Scottie Ingram became the first student-athlete in program history to have her number retired. In a ceremony that took place after the victory over SIUE, MSU Director of Athletics Allen Ward announced that no one in Murray State volleyball history will ever wear the number seven ever again.
Joining Elite Company
Kristen Besselsen joined an exclusive club on Saturday as well as she became the 13th member of the 1,000-kills club in program history. Besselsen now has 1,001 career kills at MSU and has averaged 2.92 kills per set throughout her career.
Climbing the Ranks
Ingram is now just 43 kills shy of first place on the all-time career kills list in Racer history. Ingram's 1,519 career kills are just 42 shy of tying Sarah Dearworth's program record of 1,561 kills. Dearworth averaged 3.39 kills per set throughout her career at MSU while Ingram has averaged 3.61 per.
Racers Rack Up All-OVC Honors
Scottie Ingram became just the second student-athlete in OVC volleyball history to be named Player of the Year for the third time and Ellie Lorenz was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Year to headline Murray State's All-OVC honors announced Wednesday night at the OVC Tournament banquet. Joining Ingram and Lorenz with First Team All-OVC honors were Kristen Besselsen and Hannah Stultz.
Scouting Jacksonville State
The Gamecocks are a dangerous eight seed as they sat on top of the conference standings at one point earlier this season at 5-1. JSU is led by a pair of All-OVC performers in Allyson Zuhlke and Mackenzie Rombach. Zuhlke leads the team with 413 kills and is hitting .286 on the season, while Rombach has 251 kills and leads the conference averaging 1.27 blocks per set. JSU is balanced offensively as it features three others players with 250-plus kills on the year. As a team, the Gamecocks are hitting .209 and are second in the league with 2.73 blocks per set.
