Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
UT Martin
Players Mentioned
Racers Begin Title Defense This Weekend at Racer Arena
9/22/2016 10:31:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dates: Sept. 23 and 24, 2016
Match Times: Sept. 23: 7 p.m. and Sept. 24: 2 p.m.
Opponents: UT Martin and Southeast Missouri
Site: Racer Arena
Watch Live: UT Martin | SEMO
Live Stats: UT Martn | SEMO
MSU Record (Streak): 5-7 (L2)
UT Martin Record (Streak): 4-11 (L2)
Southeast Missouri Record (Streak): 1-13 (L13)
All-Time Series vs. UT Martin: MSU leads 42-19
All-Time Series vs. SEMO: SEMO leads 46-26
MSU Next Match: Sept. 27 vs. Austin Peay
This Weekend
The Racers open defense of their back-to-back OVC Championships Friday and Saturday as they host UT Martin Friday night at 7 p.m., and SEMO Saturday at 2 p.m. Including being the conference opener for MSU, it will also be the team's home opener. The Racers have won 16-straight regular season matches at Racer Arena, going undefeated in 2014 and 2015 at home during conference play.
Last Weekend
MSU went 1-2 last weekend to close its non-conference slate at the Saint Louis Billiken Invitational. The Racers defeated Saint Louis in the opener and lost Saturday to Illinois and Omaha. Rachel Giustino and Ellie Lorenz were named to the All-Tournament Team at the invite. Giustino averaged 3.15 kills per set and hit a team-high .315 in the three matches while Lorenz averaged five digs per set and tallied a career-high 35 against Omaha.
OVC Openers
The Racers are 19-14 all-time in OVC openers, including 10-5 in home conference openers. Under Head Coach David Schwepker, the Racers are 8-10 in openers. MSU has also won five consecutive conference openers dating back to 2011.
Scouting UT Martin
The Skyhawks are led by a trio of attackers in Jemima Idemudia (134 kills), Madison Wessling (125) and Macy Reigelsperger (124). Idemudia leads the team at the net defensively averaging 1.12 blocks per set (12 solo, 44 assists) and Reigelsperger is second on the team in digs with 115. Colleen Larson leads the Skyhawks with 3.52 digs per set and Kelly Lean is averaging 10.06 assists per set. As a team, the Skyhawks are hitting .163 and have 78 total blocks. UTM is led by Head Coach Jaclynn Yocum who is in her second season.
Scouting Southeast Missouri
The Redhawks are led by the league-leader in kills and kills per set in Krissa Gearring who has 241 kills so far this season and is averaging 4.55 per set. Gearring also leads the team with 12 service aces and her .162 attack percentage is secondbest on the team behind Jessica McElderry's .266. Madeline Grimm is second on the squad with 102 kills. Rachel Poole leads SEMO averaging 8.77 assists per set while Katarina Rotta is second on the squad averaging 7.70 per. In the back row, libero Jade Mortimer is averaging a team-high 4.79 digs per set.
Promotional Giveaways
At Friday's match, the first 100 Murray State students will get a FREE Murray State fanny pack and the first 250 fans will get a FREE back-to-back OVC Championship t-shirt.
