Racers Travel to Morehead to Face the Eagles

Saturday, February 13

Morehead, Ky.

1 p.m.

Murray State

Morehead State

2/12/2021 1:16:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Volleyball Match Notes - 2020-21

Murray State will face Morehead State at Johnson Arena on Feb. 13 and 14

Dates: Feb. 13^th and 14th
Match Times: 1 p.m. // 1 p.m. Central Time
Opponents: Morehead State
Site: Morehead, Ky.
Venue: Johnson Arena
Feb. 13 : Live Stats ; Live Video
Feb 14 : Live Stats ; Live Video
MSU Record (Streak): 2-0 (W2)
All-Time Series vs. Morehead State (Streak): 31-42 (W4)
MUR Next Match: Feb. 21 and 22 at SIU-Edwardsville

This Weekend
The Racers travel to Morehead State to face the Eagle. The Eagles and Racers currently sit in a tie for first place in the OVC after sweeping Eastern Illinois, 3-1 and 3-0, and Tennessee State, 3-0 and 3-2, each with a 2-0 record.
First serve is set for 1 p.m. Central Time on both Feb. 13 and 14 and will be available to stream on ESPN+.

Last Match
The Racers opened the 2020-21 season with two victorys against Tennessee State. On Feb. 7, they won 3-0, 25-17, 25-11 and 25-21 and won a five-set thriller 25-14, 28-26, 20-25, 25-27 and 15-12 on Feb. 8.

In the home opener, Murray State cruised to a three-set victory. The Racers got off to fast starts in the two sets, using runs to build sizable leads and dominated the Lady Tigers. The third set went back and forth until Murray State pulled away from Tennessee State to take the set and the match.

On Monday, Tennessee State threw all they could at the Racers, but the Racers prevailed in five sets. Murray State claimed the first two sets, but the Lady Tigers came back in sets three and four to force a decisive fifth game. After trading points with Tennessee State early, the Racers fell behind 5-9, but went on a 10-3 including four kills from Kolby McClelland to close the game out and beat the Lady Tigers, 15-12.

McClelland led the offense with 30 kills with Jayla Holcombe following closely behind with 25 kills in the two matches. Callie Anderton dished out 86 assists and Becca Fernandez collected 39 digs.

Fernandez claims sixth on the All-Digs List
Fernandez finished the 2019 season seventh overall on the All-Time Digs List. She sat at 1,603 career digs closing in on sixth place just needing 18 digs to on move up. After the opening weekend, Fernandez tallied 18 digs and 21 digs on game one and two against Tennessee State.

Secretary of Defense
Junior Becca Fernandez continues to shine, collecting 39 digs over the weekend to lead the Racers.

Freshmen Firepower
The new faces on the team shined in Racer uniforms. All five freshmen saw significant playing time, coming up with clutch kills, digs and blocks. Freshmenn Jayla Holcombe, Darci Metzger and Taylor Beasley finished second, third and fourth on the team in kills with 25, 18 and 12. Morgan Price added three kills and two blocks while Dahlia Miller dug the ball 22 times and had two service aces.

Power Attack
The Racers have a balanced attack to start the season with five players in double-figure kills. Kolby McClelland had a new career-high 19 kills in the five-set win over Tennessee State. Jayla Holcombe opened her career as a Racer with double-digits kills in both games. Darci Metzger, Taylor Beasley and Emily Matson collected 18, 12 and 11 kills over the weekend.

Leading the OVC
Murray State leads the OVC with 18 service aces and averaging 2.25 aces per set. Kolby McClelland and Emily Matson tied for the team lead with four service aces each. Callie Anderton and Becca Fernandez both added three with Dahlia Miller and Jayla Holcombe each contributing two aces.

Scouting Morehead State
The Eagles come into the match tied for first in the OVC with a 2-0 record in conference play. Reigning OVC Player of the Year Olivia Lohmeier leads the way for Morehead State as she picked up 13 kills in each match. She finished Monday's match with a hitting efficiency of .500 (13-2-22) and added two blocks, two digs, and a service ace. Junior libero Allison Whitten recorded 31 total digs and added five service aces. She finished the Eastern Illinois series 14 digs shy of 1,000 for her career. Sophomore setter Bridget Bessler racked up 69 assists in the pair of victories over Eastern Illinois. She led Morehead State to a .232 hitting percentage, improving the team's percentage 121 points from match one to match two. Bessler also added 10 digs, three kills, two service aces, and two blocks.