Beasley With Career Night, Racers Fall in Five-Sets To Tennessee Tech

Monday, March 22

Murray, Ky.

4 p.m.

Murray State

5-9,5-9OVC

Tennessee Tech

7-7,7-7OVC

Tennessee Tech

Murray St.

Photo by: David Eaton-Murray State Athletics

Beasley With Career Night, Racers Fall in Five-Sets To Tennessee Tech

3/22/2021 8:43:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

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Murray State Volleyball team lost in five sets to Tennessee Tech at Racer Arena on Mar. 22.

The Murray State volleyball team (5-9) fell to the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles (7-7) in five sets, 20-25, 26-24, 25-22, 23-25, 11-15 on Monday in Murray, Kentucky, falling to 5-9 in conference play and out of contention for the conference tournament as only the top four team make it this year.

Jayla Holcombe led the Racers offensively, knocking down 16 kills for the second night in a row.

Taylor Beasley set new career-highs in kills (14), hitting percentage (.364), digs (8) and service aces (3).

Kolby McClelland picked up her second double-double of the season finishing with ten kills and eleven digs.

Becca Fernandez dug up 28 balls throughout the four sets and Callie Anderton, playing in her final game at Racer Arena, tallied 42 assists and five kills.

In the first set, the Racers rattled four straight points, capped with a Beasley service ace to take a slight 5-4 advantage. This was Murray State's only lead in the set as Tennessee Tech began to pull away building their lead as big as eight. The Racers fought off four match points but ultimately fell 25-20 to open the match.

The Racers found their game in the second set and brought the energy to even the match at one apiece. The Golden Eagles started off with a 8-3 lead but the Racers battled back to even the score at 10, winning seven of the next nine points. The set was back-and-forth from then on with neither team able to more take than a three point lead. With the Racers leading, 24-21, Tennessee Tech defended three match points to tie things at 24 but back-to-back kills from Holcombe sealed the set for Murray State.

Murray State jumped out to a 11-6 advantage in set three using kills from Beasley and Holcombe and a service ace by McClelland. Tennessee Tech came back to tie the game at 20 but Murray won the race to five on kills by Holcombe and Anderton, 25-22, to take a 2-1 lead in the match.

Set four was a game of runs as the Golden Eagles used a 5-0 run to build a 5-1 lead but Murray State immediately responded with a 9-2 run to pull ahead 10-7 using back-to-back from Beasley and Holcombe contributed back-to-back kills. Tennessee Tech then went on a 7-1 run to lead 18-16. The game was tied six times at the end but the Golden Eagles were able to pull it out, 25-23, and send the final home game of the 2020-21 season to a decisive fifth set.

The final set was back-and-forth affair with five scoring ties at the 7-7 mark but that's when the Golden Eagles took the game over and won 15-11 to sweep the series.

The Racers hit the road for the final weekend of the 2020-21 regular season facing Southeast Missouri at 7 p.m. on Sunday (Mar. 28) and 2 p.m. on Monday (Mar. 29).