Volleyball Continues Road Stretch at UT Martin

The Murray State Racers volleyball team (8-6, 2-2 OVC) will travel to UT Martin (8-10, 4-1 OVC) to face the Skyhawks at Skyhawk Fieldhouse in Martin, Tenn.

The two will clash in back-to-back nights beginning Friday at 6 p.m. CT and Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.

MURRAY STATE VS. UT MARTIN
Friday, October 8 | 6 p.m. CT
Live Stats

Saturday, October 9 | 11 a.m. CT
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 fell twice to Morehead State over the weekend in straight sets, 36-38, 18-25, 21-25 and in five sets, 25-21, 18-25, 25-22, 14-25, 6-15.
- The Racers 38-36 set one loss on Friday was Murray State's longest match in the 25-point rally scoring era.
- In Friday's match, Becca Fernandez broke Murray State's single-match (3-set) digs record, a 32-year old Racer record, picking up a career-high 41 digs in the three-setter.
- Brooke Lynn Watts led all hitters this weekend with 36 kills, recording double-doubles in both matches. Watts put down 16 kills and 20 kills in the two matches and added 11 digs in each.
- Fernandez and Watts were named OVC Defensive Player and Newcomer of the Week, respectively, for their efforts.

THE LONGEST MATCH
- The Racers played the longest match in the 25-point rally scoring era on Friday with a 38-36 set one loss to Morehead State.
- Murray State also lost 30+ point match earlier in the season, falling 33-31 in set two to Evansville.
- The Racers' previous long was on Sept 18, 2001, 38-36, to WKU in the 30-point rally scoring era.

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.

NONCONFERENCE SEASON
- The Racers went 6-4 in non-conference to start the 2021 season, going 5-1 at neutral sites and 1-3 on the road with tournaments at Mercer, Saint Louis, Georgia Southern and Evansville.

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 second in the NCAA in Kills Per Set, averaging 5.41 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 fourth in Points Per Set (5.70).
- Watts' 34 kills against Georgia Southern are the most in the NCAA for a 4-set match this season.
- Senior libero Becca Fernandez moved into second in the NCAA in Digs Per Set, averaging 6.27 digs per set.
- Fernandez's 41 digs were second-most in a 3-set match this season in the NCAA.

THE OVC STACK UP
- Murray State is first overall in the OVC standings after the first weekend of conference play.
- As a team, Murray leads the OVC in hitting percentage (.230), assists per set (13.57), kills per set (14.90) and digs per set (18.23).
- Watts leads in the OVC in kills per set and points per set. Watts is averaging 5.41 kills per set, leading the next closest player by more than a kill per set.
- Watts also tops the OVC in points per set averaging 6.00 with 228 total kills, eight aces, two block solo and four block assists in 40 sets played.
- Freshman setter Bailey DeMier's 11.33 assists per set is best in the OVC and fifth in the NCAA.
- Libero Becca Fernandez is first in the OVC in digs per set, averaging 6.27 digs/set.
- Middle blocker, Kolby McClelland is third in the OVC with a .300 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).

SERIES HISTORY
- Murray State leads the overall series 50-22 with the Racers holding a 17-16 advantage in Martin.
- The Racers have won six out of the last seven matchups between the teams, including three straight.
- Last season, Murray State took both matches, winning in five sets before closing out the series with a 3-0 sweep.

SCOUTING UT MARTIN
- The UT Martin Skyhawks hold a 8-10 overall record, 4-1 in conference play to sit third in the OVC standings.
- Since starting the season, 1-9, the Skyhawks have turned it around winning seven of their last eight.
- In conference play, the Skyhawks are on a four-game win streak after dropping their OVC opener to Belmont.
- Last weekend, the Skyhawks took both matches from Eastern Illinois in four-sets, 25-14, 19-25, 25-18, 25-13, on Friday and hit a season-high .290 on the way to a 3-0 sweep straight sets, 25-17, 25-16, 25-17 on Saturday.
- The Skyhawks are hitting .147 as a whole, last in the OVC, averaging 11.59 kills per set, eighth in the OVC.
- The Skyhawks have a trio of attacks with triple-digit kills, Karen Scanlon leads with 2.52 kills per set (kps), followed by Addison Conley at 2.11 kps and Olivia Saunders at 2.12 kps.
- Defensively, UT Martin is fifth in the OVC with 15.28 digs per set and seventh averaging 2.03 blocks per set.
- Bailie Kearns leads the back row with a team-high 226 digs, while Haeleigh Paulino has 426 of the team's 703 assists.
- The Skyhawks are coached by head coach Jaclynn Wilson (7th season), assistant coach Julia Noe, and director of operations Hannah Phillips.

Murray State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Bailey DeMier

Becca Fernandez

Alexa Harris

Jayla Holcombe

Kolby McClelland

Brooke Lynn Watts

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