Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Jacksonville State
Third-Seeded Racers Open Tournament Play Thursday
11/15/2017 10:51:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Date: Nov. 16, 2017
Match Time: 11 a.m.
Site: Clarksville, Tenn.
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Tournament Homepage
MSU Record (Streak): 20-8 (W5)
JSU Record (Streak): 23-12 (W1)
All-Time Series vs. JSU: Jacksonville State leads 15-7
Thursday
The Murray State volleyball team opens defense of its OVC Tournament title Thursday in Clarksville, Tenn., on the campus of Austin Peay in the first round of the OVC Tournament against the No. 6 seed Jacksonville State. It will be the second year in a row that MSU and JSU will meet in the opening round of the tournament.
Last Weekend
The Racers closed the regular season with their fifth consecutive victory Saturday as they swept Eastern Kentucky in Richmond. The Racers used a balanced offensive attack in the win as Rachel Giustino was the only Racer with double-figure kills as she notched 12 on the day. Meanwhile, four Racers all recorded nine kills each in Dacia Brown, Rachel Holthaus, Megan Lindsay and Courtney Radle.
Defensive Player of the Week
Libero Becca Fernandez took home ADIDAS OVC Defensive Player of the Week honors for her efforts last week for MSU against Austin Peay and Eastern Kentucky. Fernandez averaged 6.71 digs per set in the two wins last week. It is the first OVC player of the week award of Fernandez's young career.
OVC Tournament
MSU is looking for its sixth OVC Tournament championship in program history and third in the last four seasons. The Racers hosted the tournament each of the previous three seasons and winning in 2014 and 2016. 1989, 1992 and 2003 were the other previous championship seasons.
Scouting Jacksonville State
The Gamecocks feature 2017 First Team All-OVC selection Allyson Zuhlke who leads the team with 464 kills (3.39 per set) on the year. Charis Ludtke is second on the team with 387 while Mackenzie Rombach has 303 and leads JSU with a .284 hitting percentage. Both Ludtke and Zuhlke lead the team with 32 aces each. At setter, Jennifer Hart leads the squad with 1,029 assists and paces the offense to a .208 hitting percentage. As a team, the Gamecocks have over 300 total blocks and have 122 service aces. JSU defeated the Racers in four sets in Jacksonville earlier this season on October 13.
