Murray State
5-3
Binghamton
0-8
Racers Bolt Out of the Gate in Sweep of Binghamton
9/7/2018 7:43:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team bounced back from a loss earlier in the day to sweep Binghmaton, 25-15, 25-12, 25-21, in their second match at the UniWyo Invite, Friday evening in Laramie.
The Racers improve to 5-3 while the Bearcats are still searching for their first win, sitting at 0-8.
Junior Rachel Giustino led MSU with 11 kills while senior Dacia Brown was not far behind with ten of her own as both players hit over .400 in the match. Sophomore Callie Anderton dished out 27 assists while Giustino had a team-high four service aces.
On defense, sophomore Becca Fernandez had 10 digs and redshirt-freshman Kolby McClelland racked up a career-high four blocks.
The first set could not have gone better for the Racers as they jumped out to a 12-0 lead, using a combination of kills, aces, and Bearcat errors. Binghamton was able to cut into the lead a little bit, but MSU cruised their way to a first set victory, 25-15. The Racers had a balanced attack in the first set, getting kills from five different players.
In the second set, Binghamton held an early 2-0 lead, but Murray State answered right away, tying the set at five on a block by McClelland and junior Courtney Radle. After some back-and-forth play, with the score tied at nine, the Racers separated themselves with a 4-0 run. MSU clinched the set with a 10-1 run, culminating with an ace by junior Rachel Holthaus.
Giustino delivered an ace to begin the third set, but the Bearcats responded and kept the set close until a 5-0 run by the Racers, which included two kills by Giustino and Radle each, to take a 17-13 lead. Binghamton got back to within two at 23-21, but a service error by the Bearcats and an ace from junior Alex Kaufmann gave the Racers the set and the match.
Murray State will close out the UniWyo tournament, tomorrow at 2 p.m. when they take on host Wyoming. The Cowgirls will be the toughest challenge for the Racers so far this season as they received votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll.
