Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Eastern Kentucky
Racers Head to EKU for Matchup With Colonels
10/11/2019 10:20:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dates:Â Oct. 12, 2019
Match Times:Â 1 p.m.
Opponents:Â Eastern Kentucky
Site:Â CRichmond, Ky.
Venue:Â McBrayer Arena
Live Stats:Â http://bit.ly/33rzIvx
Live Video:Â ESPN+
MSU Record (Streak): 10-7 (W1)
All-Time Series vs. Eastern Kentucky (Streak): 39-29 (W8)
MSU Next Matches: Oct. 18 and 19 – vs. Belmont and Tennessee State
MSU Next Home Matches: Oct. 18 and 19 – Belmont and Tennessee State
This Weekend
The Racers will look to make it five wins in six conference matches this season as they travely to Eastern Kentucky to battle the Colonels. First serve is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday and will be available to stream on ESPN+.
Last Weekend
The 2019-20 First Financial Bank Battle of the Border kicked off Wednesday night as the Racers traveled to Austin Peay. Murray State got off to a strong start in their effort to win for a fourth straight year as they took down the Governors in four sets. Ashley McBee dished out a career-high 55 assists in the winning effort with most of those going to Rachel Giustino, who registered 30 kills. Rachel Holthaus also had a big night on offense with 17 kills while Becca Fernandez anchored the defense with 23 digs.Â
NCAA Leaderboard
Rachel Giustino is among the nation's leaders in a couple of categories as she is second in total kills with 346 and fourth in kills per set at 5.49. Becca Fernandez is also inching toward the top 20 in digs per set with 5.22, currenlty 21st in the nation.
1,500 Kills
Rachel Giustino recorded her 1500th kill against Austin Peay, just the second player in program history to reach the milestone. She now sits just 98 away from Scottie Ingram's school record, set in 2016.
Battle of the Border
The Racers kicked off the 2019-20 Battle of the Border, October 9th and picked up three points in the process with a four-set win. It is the fourth year of the Battle of the Border, with Murray State winning the first three.
Giustino for Three
For the third time in six weeks this season, Rachel Giustino was named the OVC Offensive Player of the Week. Against UT Martin and SEMO, the senior averaged 6.83 kills per set while hitting .326.
Secretary of Defense
Junior Becca Fernandez was named the OVC Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 30 after averaging 7.67 digs per set in two sweeps over EIU and SIUE. After tallying 19 digs against the Panthers, she notched 27 digs at SIUE for an average of nine per set.
Giustino Joins 1,000/1,000 Club
With her seven digs against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, Rachel Giustino surpassed the 1,000 dig milestone, becoming just the 19th Racer in history to join the club. Even more exclusively, she became just the ninth player in program history to have over 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.
30-20 Vision
Senior Rachel Giustino became the first Racer in the rally-scoring era to have a 30-20 match as she recorded 31 kills and 22 digs in a win over Bradley at the UIC Invitational. This wrapped a weekend where she averaged 5.69 kills and 3.31 digs per set en route to winning OVC Offensive Player of the Week.
McBee Claims OVC Honor
Junior setter Ashley McBee also had a strong weekend at the Troy Invitational, averaging 10.91 sets, earning her OVC Setter of the Week. She had her second 50-assist performance of the season in just four sets against Chattanooga and followed that up with 46 assists in a win over Jacksonville. She wrapped up the weekend with 35 assists in three sets against Troy.
Giustino Shines
Senior Rachel Giustino had a strong weekend at the IUPUI Hampton Inn Invitational as she was named to the All-Tournament Team and OVC Offensive Player of the Week after posting 61 kills and 39 digs in 12 sets played. She especially had strong performances against Valpo with 24 kills and 18 digs and IUPUI with 28 kills and 15 digs.
2018Â Recap
The Racers came into the 2018 season as the preseason OVC favorites but struggled out of the gate. After going 6-6 in non-conference play, MSU opened OVC action with three straight losses. However, that would be the last defeat for the Racers until the NCAA Tournament, winning 16 straight to match a program record, culminating with a straight-set victory over Austin Peay in the OVC Tournament title match in Clarksville. The season and winning streak came to a close when the Racers fell to the #10 Kentucky in the first round of The Big Dance.
Experience
Murray State will depend on the upperclassmen this season as they have a combined ten juniors and seniors as well as a redshirt-sophomore. The Racers will be led by returning All-OVC players Rachel Giustino, Becca Fernandez, and Rachel Holthaus. Giustino led the OVC with 4.05 kills per set while also contributing 3.31 digs per set. With 136 more digs, she will become just the ninth Racer to be in the 1,000 kill/1,000 dig club and will also have a chance to become the all-time leader in kills. Fernandez was named 2018 OVC Defensive Player of the Year after tallying 5.89 digs per set during OVC play while Holthaus led the Racers with a .280 hitting percentage. MSU will also have experience at setter as both Ashley McBee and Callie Anderton have over 1,100 assists in their career.
New Faces
The Racers welcome three new additions to Murray this season, as Emma Kailiponi and Alysha Smith join the team as freshmen while Courtney Swafford transfers in from LaGrange College. Kailiponi and Swafford are both liberos from Anaheim, California and Ooletawah, Tennessee, respectively, while Smith is an outside hitter who hails from the Sin City.
Preseason Poll
The Racers were tabbed as favorites in the preseason OVC poll collecting 230 points and 12 first-place votes. Defending OVC regular-season champion Austin Peay was picked second with 212 points and six first-place votes. Morehead State collected five first-place votes while Jacksonville State picked up one as well to finish third and fourth in the poll.
Scouting Austin Peay
The Governors come into Wednesday's match at 3-1 in the OVC and a misleading 5-13 overall record, after playing the toughest non-conference schedule in the OVC, where they took on six power five schools in addition to top-100 teams Northern Iowa and Ball State. Austin Peay lost five seniors from last year's OVC regular season championship team, but do return preseason All-OVC players Ginny Gerig Busse and Brooke Moore. Gerig Busse leads the defense with 4.71 digs per set while Moore heads the offensive attack with 3.36 kills per set. Caroline Waite and Kelsey Mead have split time at setter this season as they both average about six assists per set.
