Murray State
5-4
Wyoming
8-1
Giustino Named All-Tournament as Racers Wrap Up UniWyo Invite
9/8/2018 4:02:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball faced their toughest opponent of the season in Wyoming, Saturday afternoon, falling to the Cowgirls in three sets.
Wyoming received votes in the latest AVCA Coaches poll and will likely receive more this week after sweeping the UniWyo Invite to improve to 8-1 on the season, while the Racers suffer their first loss on a Saturday this season and fall to 5-4.
Junior Rachel Giustino, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, led the Racers with 14 kills while hitting .321 and contributed eight digs. Sophomore Callie Anderton dished out 18 assists and classmate Ashley McBee handed out 14 more. Fellow sophomore Becca Fernandez racked up 11 digs on defense.
Senior Dacia Brown got the Racers on the board to tie the first set at one early but the Cowgirls took control right after that, jumping out to a 12-4 lead, and eventually taking the set, 25-14.
The second set looked to be more of the same for Wyoming as they took a 9-5 lead, but the Racers answered with a 4-0 run, which included two service aces by Anderton. Later in the set, down 12-10, junior Courtney Radle sandwiched two kills around a block by Giustino and sophomore Katirah Johnson to take a brief one-point lead. However, the Cowgirls responded immediately with a 4-0 run to retake the lead and did not give it up as they won the second set, 25-19.
The Racers got off to a quick start in the third set, taking an early 3-2 lead and gradually expanded it to five at 11-6 on a service ace by junior Alex Kaufmann. MSU held onto the lead for a little bit before the Cowgirls mounted a comeback, taking the lead at 16-15. After trading points, Giustino notched a kill to keep the deficit at one at 21-20, but Wyoming scored four of the next five points to take the set and the match.
Murray State will play its final non-conference matches of the season next weekend when they travel to St. Louis to compete at the Billiken Invitational. They will take on UNLV, Friday at 3:30 p.m. before playing two matches Saturday, beginning with host Saint Louis at noon and then UMKC at 5:00 p.m.
