Murray State
12-9,6-3OVC
Jacksonville State
12-9,6-3OVC
Racers Fall in Four Sets at Jacksonville State
10/25/2019 9:03:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
In a battle between two teams tied for first in the OVC, the Murray State volleyball team fell to Jacksonville State in four sets at the Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The Gamecocks (13-8, 7-2 OVC) came into the match as the top offensive team in the conference and improved upon that tonight as they hit .301 with 59 total kills while the Racers (12-9, 6-3 OVC) hit just .201 with 53 kills.
Rachel Giustino led the Racers with 16 kills while Kolby McClelland and Rachel Holthaus each chipped in with 13. Alysha Smith had a solid match as well as she hit .353 with eight kills and a block.
In the first set, the Racers held leads of 14-10 and 18-15, but Jacksonville State ended the set on a 10-1 run to jump out in front in the match.
The second set did not look promising for the Racers as they fell behind by as much as eight points at 15-7, but after cutting the deficit to six a couple of points later, a big block by Giustino and Holthaus jumpstarted a 9-2 run to tie the set at 19. The two teams proceeded to trade points until the set was tied at 23 before a kill by Holthaus and a block by Smith clinched the set for the Racers.
After falling behind early, an 8-1 run gave Murray State an 11-8 lead. The Racers won three of the next four points to take a five-point lead, but JSU answered with a 7-1 run to take a 16-15 lead. After briefly taking the lead back, the Racers were unable to hold off the JSU attack as they won five of the final six points of the set to win, 25-21.
Jacksonville State looked to put the match away in the fourth set as they built a 16-10 lead, but the Racers would not go down without a fight as they got back to within a point at 19-18. However, a 6-1 run by JSU to end it gave the Gamecocks the set and the match.
The Racers will return to action tomorrow night when they travel to Tennessee Tech. First serve is set for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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