Racers Pick up Huge Win on Road at SEMO

Friday, November 8

Cape Girardeau, Mo.

6 p.m.

Murray State

16-9, 10-3OVC

Southeast Missouri

19-9, 11-3OVC

Murray State

Southeast Missouri

Katirah Johnson

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

11/8/2019 9:44:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Needing a win to stay alive for an OVC championship, the Murray State volleyball team delivered one of its best performances of the season, Friday against first-place Southeast Missouri, defeating the Redhawks in four sets in Cape Girardeau.

The Racers improve to 10-3 in the OVC and are just a half-game back of the Redhawks with a game in hand. MSU also trails Morehead State by a game but will end the season with the Eagles, next Saturday.

Going up against the best blocking team in the OVC and one of the best in the country, the Racers were up to the challenge as they finished the night even with the Redhawks with six blocks each.

Rachel Giustino led the Racers with 20 kills while Rachel Holthaus chipped in with 16 kills on a team-high .394 hitting percentage. Katirah Johnson also had one of her best performances of the season with nine kills and three blocks while hitting .375.

Ashley McBee controlled the offense with 52 assists while Becca Fernandez anchored the defense with 21 digs. Holthaus, Giustino, and McBee also chipped in with double-digit digs for double-doubles while Alex Kaufmann had 15 digs, including the 1,000^th of her career.

With the scored tied a 10 in the first set, the Redhawks went on a 4-0 run to take a lead they would not give up. The Racers cut their deficit to two at 22-20, but SEMO won three of the last four points to take the set, 25-21.

In the second set, the Racers received big performances from Holthaus and Emily Matson, who each had five kills in the set. With MSU up 13-12, a service ace by Kaufman before another great service by the senior led to a kill by Holthaus gave the Racers a three-point lead, forcing SEMO to take a timeout. The Racers extended their lead to 20-15 after back-to-blocks, first by Holthaus and Kolby McClelland and then by Holthaus and McBee. The five-point lead proved to be enough cushion as they won the set, 25-22.

The third set went back-and-forth with the set being tied as late as 15. A kill by McClelland and an ace by Giustino followed giving the Racers a slim two-point lead, but it proved to be enough as MSU never gave it up the rest of the set, wrapping up the set on a 6-2 run to win, 25-19.

The fourth set turned out to be a defensive battle as both teams hit under .200 in the set. The Redhawks held a 15-9 lead, but the Racers buckled down and did not allow SEMO to score a point on their serve the rest of the set, slowly climbing back. A kill by Giustino and a block by Johnson and McClelland cut the deficit to three at 15-12 before a block by Johnson and Matson cut the deficit to two at 20-18. A kill by Giustino a couple of points later cut it to one at 22-21. Finally, a 4-0 run by the Racers sealed the win as McClelland delivered the winning kill off the fingers of a Redhawk player, giving MSU a 25-23 win.

The Racers will be back in action as they make their shortest trip of the year to UT Martin. First serve from Skyhawk Fieldhouse is set for 2 p.m.