Racers To Honor Seniors Against Eastern Illinois

Dates: Mar. 14^th and 15^th
Match Times: 6 p.m. // 4 p.m. Central Time
Opponent: Eastern Illinois
Site: Murray, Ky.
Venue: Racer Arena
Mar. 14 : Live Stats ; Live Video
Mar. 15: Live Stats ; Live Video
MSU Record (Streak): 4-6 (L2)
All-Time Series vs. Eastern Illinois (Streak): MUR leads 29-24 (W9)
MUR Next Match: Mar. 21 and Mar. 22 vs Tennessee Tech

This Weekend
The Racers take on the Panthers in a two-game series concluding with Senior Day before the Sunday match. Eastern Illinois (1-9) currently sit tied for last place while the Racers (4-6) are fifth in the OVC.

First serve is set for 6 p.m. on Sunday (Mar. 14) and 4 p.m. CT on Monday (Mar. 8).

Last Match
The Racers visited Austin Peay and lost in four-sets on Sunday, 23-25, 25-19, 18-25, 22-25 and three-sets on Monday, 17-25, 18-25, 15-25.

The Racers got significant contributions from freshman, Jayla Holcombe, as she led Murray State with 30 kills, knocking down 20 in the first match and 10 in the series finale against Austin Peay, averaging 4.28 kills per set. Kolby McClelland contributed 17 kills with a .300 hitting percentage.

Becca Fernandez led the Racers with 34 digs in losses at Austin Peay, averaging 4.86 digs per set. She leads the OVC in digs per set with 6.35.

Callie Anderton led the Racers offense with 62 assists, averaging 8.86 assists per set. She also set new career-highs in digs (19) and service aces (4) in Sunday's match.

Senior Day
Before Monday's match, the Racers will recognize two seniors: Callie Anderton and Katirah Johnson.
Setter Callie Anderton has played in every game this season, pacing the Racers offense to a 4-6 record. She has tallied 1681 career assists, averaging 9.24 per set in 2020-21. Last week against Austin Peay, she set new career-high in digs (19) and service aces (4).

Middle blocker Katirah Johnson is out for her senior season with a torn ACL. She won OVC Freshman of the Year in 2017. Johnson has amassed 383 kills in her career.

Home Court Advantage
Murray is 4-0 this season in Racer Arena and 7-1 dating back to last season, only falling to Southeast Missouri, 3-0 in the second home match of the season. The Racers currently hold a six-game win streak at home against the Panthers.

NCAA Leaderboard
Becca Fernandez is among the nation's leaders in a couple of categories. She is second in digs per set and 47th in total digs with 235.

Leading the OVC
Becca Fernandez is leading the OVC with 6.35 digs per set. Last season, Fernandez finished atop the OVC with 5.10 digs per set.

Last Five
Murray State has won all five of their last five matchups against Eastern Illinois, and are on a nine-game win streak over the Panthers. The Racers last loss came on Oct. 14, 2015 in Charleston, Ill. Last year, the Racers won in both matches in straight sets. Set one was 25-19, 25-15, 25-21 and set two was 25-16, 25-23, 25-15.

Scouting Eastern Illinois
The winless Panthers faced off with the other winless team in the league, Tennessee State, at home and split the series to give both their first wins of the season as each improved to 1-9 on the season. Eastern Illinois lost in five sets on Sunday (18-25, 25-16, 21-25, 25-15, 15-9) before coming back out the next night to earn their first win of the season and beat the Tigers in straight sets (25-20, 25-23, 25-23).

Bailey led the Panthers offense for the weekend as she registered 40 kills for the weekend with a 21 coming in the five set loss on Sunday and 19 in the three set win on Monday. Bailey averaged 5 kills per set and hit .232 for the weekend. She added two service aces, one assist and two block assists. On Monday she became the 29th player in program history with 1,000 career digs as she posted 20 for the weekend.

Bailey Chandler leads the Eastern Illinois offense with 319 assists. As a team, the Panther's are hitting .138. Chandler had 80 assists for the weekend to average 10 assists per set. She would add five kills, one service ace, 19 digs and one block assist.

On the defensive side of the ball, Christina Martinez Mundo has totaled 117 digs over the ten matches, averaging 3.34 per set. She posted 54 digs for the weekend averaging 6.75 digs per set, collecting 27 digs in both matches.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Callie Anderton

Becca Fernandez

Jayla Holcombe

Katirah Johnson

Kolby McClelland

Murray State University Athletics