Murray State
4-3
Arizona State
6-1
Racers Fall to Arizona State in UniWyo Opener
9/7/2018 1:13:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
After falling in the first two sets to Arizona State by identical scores of 25-15, the Murray State volleyball team attempted to mount a comeback, taking the third set, 25-22, before falling in the fourth set, 25-21, in their first match at the UNIWYO Invite in Laramie, Wyoming, Friday morning.
The Racers fall to 4-3 while ASU improves to 6-1 early in the season.
Senior Dacia Brown led Murray State with 19 kills while junior Rachel Giustino recorded her second double-double of the season with 13 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore Ashley McBee led the way with 29 assists and also contributed with nine digs while classmates Becca Fernandez and Katirah Johnson paced the team defensively with 13 digs and three blocks, respectively.
The first set went back-and-forth early on, but with MSU up 8-7 after a kill by Giustino, the Sun Devils went on a 6-1 run to take the lead. They continued to expand their lead, eventually taking the set, 25-15.
In the second set, Arizona State jumped out to an early lead, and never looked back, taking the set with the same score as the first, 25-15.
The Sun Devils looked to run away with the third set and the match as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but two straight kills from Brown and an ASU error knotted the set at three in the early stages. After Arizona State scored the next two points, the Racers went on a 5-0 run, which included a foreshadowing block from Brown and junior Rachel Holthaus, to take an 8-5 lead.
ASU came back to tie the set at 10, but again the Racers responded as Giustino had a kill and a block to put MSU back up by two. The slim lead proved to be enough as Arizona State attempted to fight back, getting to within one point multiple times, including 21-20, but could not tie it up. Murray State ended the set on 4-1 run, culminating in a block by Brown and Holthaus.
The fourth set began with the Sun Devils taking an early 8-2 lead, but MSU would not go down quietly, fighting their way back and tying the set at 14. After Johnson tied the set at 19 with a kill, the two teams traded side outs, with the Racers getting kills from freshman Emily Matson and Giustino, to keep the set tied at 21. However, Arizona State ended the set on a 4-0 run, taking the match in four sets.
Murray State will look to repeat what they have done in their two previous early-season tournaments in New Orleans and Carbondale, as they lost the first match of those tournaments as well before winning the next two. The quest for a third-straight winning weekend continues tonight as they take on Binghamton at 6 p.m. They will wrap up the weekend with the host Cowgirls, tomorrow at 2 p.m.
