Murray State Looks to Bounce Back at SIU-Edwardsville

Dates: Feb. 20^th and 21^st
Match Times: 6 p.m. // 4 p.m. Central Time
Opponents: SIU-Edwardsville
Site: Edwardsville, Ill.
Venue: First Community Arena
Feb. 20 : Live Stats ; Live Video
Feb 21 : Live Stats ; Live Video
MSU Record (Streak): 2-2 (L2)
All-Time Series vs. SIU-Edwardsville (Streak): 19-3 (W4)
MUR Next Match: Feb. 28 and Mar. 1 vs UT-Martin

This Weekend
The Racers travel to SIU-Edwardsville to take on the Cougars. The Cougars and Racers currently sit in a tie in the OVC, each with a .500 record.

The Cougars swept Belmont in straight sets, 3-0 and 3-0 in the opening weekend of the season. They dropped both matches to Jacksonville State, 1-3 and 0-3, this past weekend at home.

First serve is set for 6 p.m. CT on Feb. 20 and 4 p.m. CT on Feb. 21.

Last Match
The Racers traveled to Morehead, Ky. to face the Morehead State Eagles and lost in straight sets both games to fall to 2-2 in conference play. On Saturday, they lost 12-25, 19-25 and 12-25. On Sunday, they lost 20-25, 20-25, 16-25.

This is the first time since the Racers opened the 2018 conference season with three straight losses that they have lost back-to-back conference games.

On Saturday, Jayla Holcombe and Darci Metzger led Murray State with six and seven kills, respectively. Callie Anderton notched 19 assists and Becca Fernandez picked up 19 digs.

On Valentine's Day, Kolby McClelland and Metzger tied for the team lead in kills with eight each. Taylor Beasley followed closely behind with seven kills and added three blocks for the day. Fernandez tallied a season-high 26 digs.

Metzger led the offense with 15 kills with Holcombe following closely behind with 13 kills in the two matches. Becca Fernandez collected 45 digs while Anderton dished out 36 assists.

Fernandez Claims OVC Honor
Junior libero Becca Fernandez had a strong weekend at Morehead State, averaging 7.5 digs per set, totaling 45 digs on the weekend. She tallied 19 digs in Saturday's match and a season-high 26 kills on Sunday. Fernandez added one kill, two assists and one service ace in the matches. This is the first time this season she claims the honor, seventh overall in her career.

Fernandez Climbing the All-Time Digs List
Fernandez finished the 2019 season seventh overall on the All-Time Digs List. She sat at 1,603 career digs and claimed sixth place after the opening weekend versus Tennessee State picking up 39 digs. Fernandez is now only trailing fifth place by 12 digs, needing just 13 digs to pass Alison Mugler.

Freshmen Firepower
The new faces on the team shine in Racer uniforms. All five freshmen saw playing time, coming up with kills, digs and blocks. Freshmenn Jayla Holcombe, Darci Metzger and Taylor Beasley sit second, third and fourth on the team in kills with 38, 33 and 21. Morgan Price has three kills and two blocks while Dahlia Miller dug the ball 22 times and two service aces.

Secretary of Defense
Junior Becca Fernandez continues to shine, collecting 45 digs over the weekend to lead the Racers. Fernandez has collected double-digit digs in all four of the Racers matches this season. Freshman Dahlia Miller contributed 17 digs against the Eagles

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 led the Racers with 15 kills at Morehead over the weekend.

Leading the OVC
Becca Fernandez is leading the OVC with 6.00 digs per set. Last season, Fernandez finished atop the OVC with 5.10 digs per set.

Last Five
Murray State has won four of their last five matchups against SIU-Edwardsville, with their last loss coming on Oct. 27, 2017 in Edwardsville, Ill. Last year, the Racers won in three-sets, 25-23, 25-18, 27-25 and four-sets, 27-25, 25-20, 19-25 and 25-19 against the Cougars.

Experience
Murray State will look to the upperclassmen this season as they have a three juniors and two seniors as well as two sophomores. The Racers will be led by returning All-OVC player, Becca Fernandez. Fernandez led the OVC with 5.09 digs per sets and was fourth overall in service aces per set, 0.32. Fernandez was named 2018 OVC Defensive Player of the Year after tallying 5.89 digs per set during OVC play. MSU will also have experience at setter as Callie Anderton has tallied over 1,339 assists in her career.

New Faces
The Racers welcome five new additions to Murray this season, as Taylor Beasley, Jayla Holcombe and Morgan Price join the team as freshman outside hitters. The attackers are from Paragould, Arkansas, Belleville, Illinois and Memphis, Tennessee, respectively. Freshman Darci Metzger is a middle blocker from Collinsville, Illinois while Dahlia Miller is a freshman libero from Pearland, Texas.

Scouting SIU-Edwardsville
The Cougars swept Belmont in straight sets, 3-0 and 3-0 in the opening weekend of the season. They dropped both matches to Jacksonville State, 1-3 and 0-3, this past weekend at home to fall to 2-2 overall.

Rachel McDonald leads the Cougars with 43 kills, averaging 3.31 per set while Savannah Christian boasts a .411 hitting percentage with 38 kills on 73 attempts. Sydney Hummert rounds out the Cougars top three kills leaders with 35, 2.69 per set. Sarah Armendariz has tallied 134 assists.

On the defensive side of the ball, Jordyn Klein has totaled 58 digs over the four matches, averaging 4.46 per set. Armendariz has collected 36, followed closely behind by Hummert with 30.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Callie Anderton

Taylor Beasley

Becca Fernandez

Jayla Holcombe

Kolby McClelland

Darci Metzger

Dahlia Miller

Morgan Price

Murray State University