Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
6-4
Chattanooga
5-6
Racers Take Down Chattanooga, Jacksonville for First Wins of Season
9/6/2019 7:00:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team picked up their first two wins of the season, Friday afternoon at the Troy Invitational by defeating Chattanooga and Jacksonville. They had to come back in both matches as they dropped the first set, but took down the Chattanooga in four sets before going the distance against the Dolphins.
Against the Mocs, Murray State dropped the first set but came back to win the next three, 25-18, 25-18, and 25-8.
Rachel Giustino and Rachel Kinney each had 14 kills while Megan Lindsay chipped in with 10 of her own. Ashley McBee dished out 50 assists, her second 50-assist performance of the young season, while Becca Fernandez led the way on defense with 15 digs. Giustino and McBee also had double-digit digs to record double-doubles.
After dropping the first set, the second set went back and forth with each team trading runs until the Racers ended the set on a 9-2 culminating with a kill by Lindsay.
The third set was close early but Murray State pulled away when they went on an 8-1 run to take a 20-11 lead. The Mocs followed by winning four straight points, but a service error and a kill by Lindsay stopped the run and put the Racers lead back up to 22-15. A couple of points later, Giustino clinched the set with a kill.
The fourth set proved to be one-sided as the Racers jumped out to an early 6-2 lead and never looked back as they hit an astounding .611 with 11 kills and no errors in the set while holding the Mocs to a -.238 percentage.
In the Racers' second match of the day against Jacksonville, MSU again got off to a slow start, dropping the first set. They fell behind 12-5 early in the set, but were able to climb their way back into the set, eventually taking a 20-19 lead. However, after trading points, the Dolphins won two straight to take the set, 29-27.
In the second set, two kills by Kolby McClelland sparked a 5-0 run for the Racers to take a 12-5 lead. Another 5-0 run later in the set expanded the lead to 21-10 before Giustino clinched the set with a kill to win 25-14.
The 5-0 run early in the third set gave the Racers an 8-5 lead which they would not relinquish. The Dolphins got as close as two points, but Murray State held on to win the set, 25-22. The Racers used a balanced attack in the set as they got four kills each from Giustino, Kinney, and Rachel Holthaus, and three from McClelland.
MSU looked like they were going to win the match in the fourth set as they led 19-14, but a 10-0 run by the Dolphins pushed Jacksonville to set point which they eventually won a couple points later.
In the decisive fifth set, the Racers jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but the Dolphins responded and took an 11-10 lead. However, Kinney sandwiched two kills around a JU error to give Murray State a 13-11 lead. The Racers then had match point at 14-12, but two kills by Sydney Bolding tied the set at 14. Finally, the Racers put the match away as Holthaus and Giustino ended it with back-to-back kills.
In the match, Giustino led MSU with 22 kills followed by 13 from Holthaus. McBee dished out 46 assists while Fernandez led the defense with 23 digs.
