Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Eastern Illinois
Racers to Open OVC Play at EIU, SIUE
9/26/2019 10:19:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dates: Sept. 27-28, 2019
Match Times: 27th – 6 p.m., 28st – 2 p.m.
Opponents: Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville
Site: Charleston, Ill. and Edwardsville, Ill.
Venue: Lantz Arena and Vadalabene Center
Notes: EIU and SIUE
Live Stats: Eastern Illinois | SIU Edwardsville
Live Video: Eastern Illinois | SIU Edwardsville
MSU Record (Streak): 6-6 (L2)
All-Time Series vs. Eastern Illinois (Streak): 27-24 (W9)
All-Time Series vs. SIU Edwardsville (Streak): 17-3 (W2)
MSU Next Matches: Oct. 4 and 5 – vs. UT Martin and SEMO
MSU Next Home Match: Oct. 4 vs. UT Martin
This Weekend
The Murray State volleyball team opens up Ohio Valley Conference play this weekend as they travel to Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville. They will battle the Panthers Friday evening before taking on the Cougars Saturday afternoon
Last Weekend
The Racers wrapped up their non-conference schedule at Purdue's Stacey Clark Classic last weekend where they swept Eastern Michigan before falling to the Boilermakers and Texas A&M - Corpus Christi. Rachel Giustino led the Racers with 5.80 kills per set while hitting .328 in the three matches, including 21 kills in three sets against Eastern Michigan. Becca Fernandez and Rachel Holthaus were named to the All-Tournament team after averaging 3.50 digs and 2.30 kills per set, respectively.
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.
2018 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 Eastern Illinois
The Panthers are coming off their first victory of the season against Robert Morris, a five-set victory at the Youngstown State Red & White Invitational. Eastern Illinois depends on a multitude of players for the offense as they have four players, Maggie Runge, Ireland Hieb, Laurel Bailey, and Katie Sommer, all averaging over two kills a set. Bailey Chandler is the team's primary setter, averaging 8.33 per set while Madison Cunningham anchors the defense with 4.49 digs per set. In the preseason poll, the Panthers were picked 11th out of 12 teams.
Scouting SIU Edwardsville
After winning five of their first six matches this season, the Cougars enter the weekend having lost six straight. Rachel McDonald leads SIUE with 102 total kills, averaging 2.22 per set. Mallory Nicholson and Addie Sieber share setting responsibilities as they each average over four assists per set. Jordyn Klein anchors the back row on defense with 3.98 digs per set while Annie Ellis is up front blocking 1.13 attacks per set. In the preseason poll, the Cougars were picked fifth in the 12-team poll.
