Volleyball Hosts Tennessee State on Homecoming Weekend

The Murray State Racers volleyball team (10-9, 4-5 OVC) will host Tennessee State (9-10, 1-9 OVC) to end the Racers' two-week home stand.

MURRAY STATE VS. TENNESSEE STATE
Thursday, October 21 | 6 p.m. CT
Live Video (ESPN+) | Live Stats

Friday, October 22 | 6 p.m. CT
Live Video (ESPN+) | Live Stats

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 snapped its five-game losing streak sweeping the series against Tennessee Tech at Racer Arena, to improve to 4-5 in conference play.
- Murray State brought home the much needed wins, in three-sets, 25-21, 25-18, 25-21 on Friday, and then in four-sets the following day, 24-26, 25-16, 25-22, 25-16, the Racers' first win when dropping the opening set.
- As a team, the Racers hit a .308 clip, their second-highest attacking % of the season on Friday night with Alexa Harris leading the attack, going errorless on a season-high 17 kills on 31 swings, hitting .548.
- On Saturday, the Racers served a season-high 12 aces, with Bailey DeMier serving seven of the 12, fifth-most in a NCAA match (4-set) this season and one shy of the Racer program record. Dahlia Miller contributed three aces and Harris had a pair as well.
- Bailey DeMier won her first OVC Setter of the Week, producing 132 assists over the three matches and recording two double-doubles.

HOME SWEET HOME
- The Racers are 4-0 at Racer Arena with three sweeps this season.
- Murray State is on a two-week homestand hosting 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.

ACE ACE BABY
- The Racers served a season-high 12 aces on Saturday against Tn Tech.
- Bailey DeMier served seven of the 12, fifth-most in a NCAA match (4-set) this season and one shy of the Racer program record.
- DeMier's seven aces are most in an OVC match this season.
- Dahlia Miller contributed three aces and Harris had a pair as well.
- Twelve aces is the most the Racers have served in a match in five years since Nov. 17, 2017 when they also served 12 in a win over Eastern Illinois.
- Murray State's previous high this season was nine in the season opener against New Hampshire.

THE PERFECT GAME
- Freshman outside hitter Alexa Harris was perfect on Friday night against Tennessee Tech, going errorless on a season-high 17 kills on a .548 attacking percentage, her most efficient game of the season.

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 and DeMier has one Setter.

BEST IN THE NATION
- As a team, Murray State is ninth the nation in both Kills Per Set (14.31) and in Assists Per Set (13.17) and 11th in Digs Per Set (17.44).
- Freshman outside hitter Brooke Lynn Watts is fifth in the NCAA in Kills Per Set, averaging 4.85 kills per set. The 2021 Gatorade State Player of the Year (Maryland) has recorded double-digit kills all but one match to start the season.
- Watts' 34 kills against Georgia Southern are the third-most in the NCAA for a 4-set match this season.
- Senior libero Becca Fernandez is in fifth in the NCAA in Digs Per Set, averaging 5.75 digs per set.
- Fernandez's 41 digs were second-most in a 3-set match this season in the NCAA.
- Freshman setter Bailey DeMier is tenth in the nation in Assists Per Set, averaging 11.11 assists per set.

THE OVC STACK UP
- Murray State sits seventh overall in the OVC standings after the fourth weekend of conference play.
- As a team, Murray leads the OVC in assists per set (13.17), kills per set (14.31) and digs per set (17.44) and is second in hitting percentage (.217).
- Watts leads in the OVC in kills per set (4.85) and points per set (5.13).
- Libero Becca Fernandez's 5.75 digs/set is best in the OVC and fifth overall in the NCAA.
- Freshman setter Bailey DeMier is first in the OVC in assists per set, averaging 11.11 assists/set and tenth in the nation.
- Middle blocker, Kolby McClelland is second in the OVC with a .289 hitting percentage.

OVC HONORS
- The Racers have collected OVC honors in seven of the first eight weeks of the season, totaling 11 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).
- Senior Becca Fernandez has won OVC Defensive Player of the Week twice so far this season (Sept. 6; Oct. 4).
- Freshman setter Bailey DeMier won her first Setter of the Week (Oct. 18)

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
- Last season, the Racers swept the series, winning in three sets on opening day, 25-17, 25-11, 25-21 and held off the Tigers in five sets the following day, 25-14, 28-26, 20-25, 27-25, 15-12.
- Murray State holds a 50-10 all-time record against Tennessee State with the Racers having a 26-4 record at Racer Arena.
- The Racers have won the last nine over the Tigers, with seven three-set sweeps in that time.

SCOUTING TENNESSEE STATE
- Tennessee State is 9-10 on the season with a 1-9 mark in OVC play
- The Tigers have fallen in nine of their last ten games including seven straight, with their only conference win coming against SEMO in four sets on Sept. 25.
- TSU lost in straight sets at Austin Peay in both games over the weekend in Nashville, dropping the first match, 25-18, 25-19, 25-23, and the second match, 25-21, 28-26, 25-18.
- Senior libero Gina Rivera-Ortiz became Tennessee State's All-Time Dig Leader this past week with 1,602 career digs, recording 27 digs against Belmont in the five-set loss.
- Rivera-Ortiz is averaging 5.47 digs per set, second in the OVC, behind only Becca Fernandez.
- Senior Aniya Williams is the top offensive weapon for the Tigers, ranking eighth in the OVC in kills per set (3.18) and ninth in hitting percentage (.257). At the net, Williams is third averaging 1.11 blocks per set.
- Last weekend, Williams had 11 kills on a .364 attacking clip with nine digs and one block assist in the first match against Austin Peay.
- TSU setter, Sofia Garcia-Guerrios, ranks fifth in the league with 8.01 assists per set.
- The Tigers are coached by head coach Donika Sutton (5th season) and assistant head coach Quanshell Scott

Volleyball Hosts Tennessee State on Homecoming Weekend

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Players Mentioned

Bailey DeMier

Becca Fernandez

Alexa Harris

Jayla Holcombe

Kolby McClelland

Darci Metzger

Dahlia Miller

Brooke Lynn Watts

Murray State University Athletics