Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
5-6
Illinois
6-4
Racers Drop Two From Billiken Invite
9/17/2016 6:41:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Murray State lost both matches Saturday to close the Billiken Invitational in St. Louis. The Racers lost in straight sets to Illinois 20-25, 13-25 and 11-25 to open the day and closed with a five-set loss to Omaha, 17-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-17 and 14-16.
Rachel Giustino, who was named to the all-tournament team, led the Racers on the day with 13 kills against the Illini and 16 versus Omaha. Audrey Lewis added six against Illinois and had 11 in the loss to Omaha. Scottie Ingram chipped in with five and a team-high 20, respectively.
Ellie Lorenz led MSU in both matches with 13 digs in the opener and had a great match against the Mavs, recording a career-high 35 digs in that loss. Those 35 digs set a new court record at Chaifetz Pavilion. Hannah Stultz and Courtney Radle each had 14 assists against the Illini and Stultz led the team with 34 against Omaha.
Illinois had a .483 to .135 team hitting advantage in that match and also out-blocked the Racers 7-1. Against Omaha, the Mavericks hit .138 while MSU was held to a .159 percentage. Omaha did have a big 17-3 blocks advantage however.
The Racers closed their non-conference slate Saturday and begin with three-straight matches at Racer Arena to open OVC play. The conference opener is Friday at 7 p.m. against UT Martin.
