Volleyball Returns Home to Host Golden Eagles

The Murray State Racers volleyball team (8-8, 2-4 OVC) will host Tennessee Tech (10-8, 5-2 OVC) to start the Racers' two-week homestand.

MURRAY STATE VS. TENNESSEE TECH
Friday, October 15 | 6 p.m. CT
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Saturday, October 16 | 2 p.m. CT
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QUICK HITS
- The 2021 season marks the 39th year of Murray State volleyball.
- Murray State was picked to finish seventh in the OVC in the conference's preseason poll.
- Murray State's 2021 schedule boasts four non-conference tournaments after playing a conference-only schedule in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. The Racers will travel twice to Georgia to compete in the Mercer Bear Classic (Aug. 27-28) and in Georgia Southern's Eagle Invitational (Sept. 10-11), to St. Louis, Missouri to play in Saint Louis's Billiken Invitational (Sept. 3-4) before closing out non-conference play the University of Evansville's Dunn Hospitality Invitational (Sept. 17-18).
- Head coach Dave Schwepker stands at 354-302 in his 24th season in Murray. He is joined by assistant coach Alison Hrusovsky who enters her third season with the Racers.
- The Racers roster features a pair of seniors, one redshirt senior, two juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen.

LAST TIME OUT
- The Racers' road struggles continued as they dropped their fifth straight game falling to Austin Peay on Wednesday night in five sets, 25-22, 19-25, 20-25, 25-23, 8-15, to end their five-game road swing
- Murray State opened the match with a 25-22 set victory but fell in the next two to give Austin Peay a 2-1 advantage. The Racers fought back in the fourth set using an 8-0 run to take the lead and force a deciding fifth set.
- Despite five Racers finishing with double-digit kills, Murray State stumbled in the fifth set to drop its fifth game in a row.
- Watts continued her streak of recording double-digit kills in every match this season leading the Racers with 17 kills against the Govs
- Darci Metzger has put up double-digit kills in three straight games hitting a blistering .425 percentage
- Setter Bailey DeMier dished out a season-high 55 assists, picking up her sixth double-double, adding 16 digs.
- Becca Fernandez led all players defensively, collecting 20 digs.

HOME SWEET HOME
- Through the first seven weeks, the Racers have only played two game at Racer Arena, sweeping both over Eastern Illinois.
- The Racers return home for a two-week homestand to host Tennessee Tech (Oct. 15 & 16) and Tennessee State on homecoming weekend (Oct. 28 & 29)
- Last season, Murray State went 5-3 on their home court

YOUTH MOVEMENT
- Three Racer freshmen and three sophomores see significant playing time on the court.
- Freshmen Bailey DeMier, Alexa Harris and Brooke Lynn Watts and sophomores Jayla Holcombe, Darci Metzger and Dahlia Miller
- Watts and DeMier have started every game at outside hitter and setter, respectively, and lead the league in kills per set and assists per set.
- Watts has collected seven total OVC weekly honors so far this season, two Offensive and five Newcomer while Harris has one Newcomer.

ROAD WOES
- Murray State's last road swing did not go their way as they went on a five-game skid
- The Racers forced fifth sets in three of the five games, falling just short in each.
- Murray State's away record is 1-8 with their lone win coming at Georiga Southern.

BEST IN THE NATION
- As a team, Murray State is third the nation in Kills Per Set (14.63) and in Assists Per Set (13.47).
- Freshman outside hitter Brooke Lynn Watts is third in the NCAA in Kills Per Set, averaging 5.12 kills per set. The 2021 Gatorade State Player of the Year (Maryland) has recorded double-digit kills in every match to start the season.
- Watts leads the NCAA in Attacks Per Set (14.25) and is second in Points Per Set (5.87).
- Senior libero Becca Fernandez moved into second in the NCAA in Digs Per Set, averaging 6.27 digs per set.
- Watts' 34 kills against Georgia Southern are the second-most in the NCAA for a 4-set match this season.
- Fernandez's 41 digs were second-most in a 3-set match this season in the NCAA.

OVC STACK UP
- Murray State sits seventh overall in the OVC standings after the third weekend of conference play.
- As a team, Murray leads the OVC in assists per set (13.25), kills per set (14.32) and digs per set (18.32).
- Watts leads in the OVC in kills per set (5.12) and points per set (5.41).
- Libero Becca Fernandez's 6.10 digs/set is best in the OVC and second overall in the NCAA. Freshman setter Bailey DeMier is first in the OVC in assists per set, averaging 11.13 assists/set.
- Middle blocker, Kolby McClelland is sixth in the OVC with a .271 hitting percentage.

OVC HONORS
- The Racers have collected OVC honors in each of the first six weeks of the season, totaling ten honors so far, the most of any team in the conference.
- Freshman Brooke Lynn Watts has claimed seven honors, five Newcomer of the Weeks and two Offensive Player of the Week in the first six weeks.
- Freshman Alexa Harris claimed her first career OVC honor, Newcomer of the Week (Sept. 20) after averaging 4.67 kills per set on a .310 hitting clip.
- Senior Becca Fernandez has won OVC Defensive Player of the Week twice so far this season (Sept. 6; Oct. 4).

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
- Senior libero Becca Fernandez broke Murray State's All-Time Digs record, collecting 41 digs at the Eagle Invitational to surpass Kayleah Sauer ('08-'11) with 2,166 career digs.
- Watts broke the Racers' Single Match (4-set) Kills Record with 34 kills in the win over Georgia Southern on a .387 hitting efficiency.
- Fernandez broke the Murray State's Single Match (3-set) Digs Record with a career-high 41 digs against Morehead State.

PRESEASON POLL
- The Racers were tabbed to finish seventh in the preseason OVC poll collecting 74 points.
- 2020 OVC Tournament Champion Morehead State was tabbed as the preseason favorite as they received 161 points and 17 of 20 first-place votes while Southeast Missouri (136 points, three first-place votes) and Austin Peay (121 Points) was picked second and third, respectively.
- Senior Becca Fernandez was named to the Preseason All-OVC team for the third year in a row and sophomore Jayla Holcombe was named for the first time in her career.

SERIES HISTORY
- Murray State leads the overall series 40-27 with the Golden Eagles holding a 21-12 advantage in Murray.
- Last season, TTU took both matches, winning in four sets (25-18, 27-29, 21-25, 23-25) before closing out the series with a five-set victory (20-25, 26-24, 25-22, 23-25, 11-15).

SCOUTING TENNESSEE TECH
- Tennessee Tech holds a 10-8 overall record, 5-2 in conference play to sit fourth in the OVC standings.
- In conference play, the Golden Eagles' 4-0 start was snapped with a midweek four-set loss to Morehead State (25-17, 28-26, 22-25, 25-20).
- Last weekend, TTU won a five-set thriller (25-27, 25-21, 25-17, 23-25, 15-13) against Austin Peay on Friday night before suffering its second conference loss on Saturday in four sets (23-25, 19-25, 25-19, 17-25).
- Freshman Madolyn Isringhausen was the top offensive weapon for the Golden Eagles over last week, averaging 3.85 kills per set. Isringhausen registered a career-high 23 kills on a .304 attack % in Tech's five-set win over APSU and added three total blocks.
- Libero McKenna Young averaged 4.92 digs per set over the 13 played last week. Young recorded a career-high 27 digs against Morehead State and tied a career-high four aces in the match.
Young leads the Golden Eagles with 4.09 digs per set, the seventh-best mark in the OVC.
- Tech setter, Ashley Hand, ranks third in the league with 10.05 assists per set and 24th in the nation. Hand moved into seventh all-time on Tech's career assists list with 126 assists last week. Hand posted double-doubles in both matches against the Govs, including a season-high 16 digs in the win.
- Taylor Dorsey and Ashley Hand have each taken home OVC weekly honors this season. Dorsey claimed Co-Defensive Player of the Week while Hand won Setter of the Week.
- The Golden Eagles are coached by head coach Jeannette Waldo (4th season), associate head coach Zach Weinberg, and assistsant coach Tierney Flaherty.

Murray State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Bailey DeMier

Becca Fernandez

Alexa Harris

Jayla Holcombe

Kolby McClelland

Darci Metzger

Dahlia Miller

Brooke Lynn Watts

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