Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
9-7
Southeast Missouri
11-7
Racers Suffer First OVC Loss to SEMO
10/5/2019 8:39:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team fell Saturday evening to the Southeast Missouri Redhawks in three sets at Racer Arena.
For the Racers, it is their first loss in the OVC this season as they fall to 3-1 in conference play and 9-7 overall while SEMO improves to 11-7 and 3-1 in the OVC. It was also the first loss at home for Murray State since 2017 and just the third loss at home in the past six seasons.
Rachel Giustino led the Racers with 21 kills while hitting .269. Ashley McBee dished out 35 assists while Becca Fernandez had 24 digs.
As a team, the Racers had seven service aces compared to five for SEMO, but the Redhawks had a big advantage at the net, notching 11 blocks to just three for Murray State.
In the first set, the Racers fell behind early but were able to bounce back to take a 10-8 lead. They built their lead to three at 14-11 but a 9-2 run by SEMO put the Redhawks in front 20-16. However, the Racers answered with a 4-0 run which included a service ace by Callie Anderton, a kill by Giustino, and two errors by SEMO to tie the set at 20. MSU took two of the next three points to take the lead, but the Redhawks ended the set on a 4-1 run to win 25-23.
The second set was tight early until a 4-0 run by SEMO gave them a 16-10 lead. However, the Racers answered right back with a 6-0 run to tie the set. The momentum quickly shifted once again as the Redhawks went on a 4-0 run to take the lead, eventually winning the set, 25-20.
In the third set, SEMO jumped out to a 6-1 lead which proved to be enough cushion as the Racers were only able to get as close as three points the rest of the way before the Redhawks won the set, 25-18.
The Racers will look to bounce back this Wednesday at 6 p.m. when they travel to Austin Peay to kick off the 2019 First Financial Bank Battle of the Border.
