Racers Win Five-Set Thriller Over Saint Louis

Friday, September 16

St. Louis, Mo.

7 p.m.

Murray State

5-5

Saint Louis

3-9

Murray State

Saint Louis

9/16/2016 9:17:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

The Murray State volleyball team won a wild, five-set thriller Friday night at Chaifetz Pavilion in St. Louis, Mo., defeating Saint Louis 26-24, 25-19, 20-25, 13-25 and 15-10 to open the first evening of the Billiken Invitational.

The Racers (5-5) closed the first set on a 14-7 run to take an early lead in the match and led from start to finish in the second and looked to be well within control of the match. However, SLU (3-9) had other ideas, closing the third set on a 10-3 run and controlling the fourth set to tie the match up. In the deciding fifth set, the Racers got off to another slow start, but finished strong, ending the match on a 10-3 run.

Audrey Lewis led MSU with 13 kills on the night while Rachel Giustino and Scottie Ingram each added 12 apiece. Dacia Brown and Oliva Chatman chipped in with seven kills each in the win. Brown led the team with a .438 attack percentage and five total blocks while Giustino hit .370. Ingram tallied a match-high 18 digs for her seventh double-double of the season.

MSU employed a two-setter system for the first time this season. Hannah Stultz led the way with 28 assists and Courtney Radle had 17 on the night. Stultz also picked up her first double-double of the season as she registered 12 digs. Ellie Lorenz tallied 17 digs from her libero spot and Alex Kaufmann added 10.

The Billikens out-hit the Racers .257 to .218 on the night and also had a slim 9-8.5 edge in total team blocks. However, MSU was able to get eight aces, including two each from Ingram and Kaufmann, while committing six serving errors, compared to SLU's four aces and seven errors.

The Racers close the invite with a pair of matches Saturday. MSU opens the day with a 10 a.m. match against Illinois before ending things at 4:30 p.m. against Omaha.