Murray State
2-2
Miami (OH)
3-1
Racers Play Miami (OH) Tough, but Fall in Four Sets
8/31/2018 3:22:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team dropped a tough four-set match to the Miami (OH) RedHawks, Friday afternoon at the Saluki Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois. After Miami took the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-19, the Racers won the third, 25-16, before the RedHawks rallied late in the fourth set to take it by a score of 25-23.
Junior Rachel Giustino recorded her first double-double of the season with a team-high 22 kills and 16 digs. Sophomore Ashley McBee led the Racers with 23 assists and sophomore Becca Fernandez paced MSU with 21 digs. Senior Dacia Brown, junior Megan Lindsay and sophomore Katirah Johnson each had two blocks.
Johnson got the Racers on the board first with a kill, but Miami responded with a 7-1 run to take an early 7-2 lead. MSU was able to claw back and get within one point a couple of times before tying the first set on 13 on a block by Brown and Lindsay.
The two teams traded side outs until the Giustino had two straight successful kills, which was followed by a kill from sophomore Callie Anderton, to take a 19-17 lead. However, the RedHawks won four straight points and eventually took a 24-21 lead. Miami nearly gave the set away with two straight errors, but won the first set, 25-23, on kill from Margaret Payne.
The second set remained tight nearly the entire time as neither team led by more than three points until Miami took an 18-15 lead. A service error and a kill by Giustino got the Racers back to within one at 19-18, but the RedHawks ended the set on a 6-1 run to go up two sets to none.
In the third set, with the score tied at eight, the Racers went on a 4-0 run, which included two kills from Brown and one from McBee, to go up 12-8. Two more 4-0 runs in the set by Murray State, which included the first career kill and ace by freshman Emily Matson, put the Racers two points away from taking the set, which they did on kills by Giustino and McBee. MSU ended up hitting .484 in the third set.
Miami scored the first three points of the fourth set, but the Racers responded right away, tying the set at four on a kill by Matson. Miami looked to pull away later in the set up 17-15, but kills by junior Rachel Holthaus and McBee tied it up before Johnson and Giustino teamed up for a block to take an 18-17 lead. The Racers built their lead to 22-19, but the RedHawks mounted a late comeback to take the set, 25-23, and the match.
The Racers are back in action tonight at 5 p.m. in their second game of the Saluki Invitational when they take on the Lady Bulldogs of Alabama A&M.
