Watts Lights Up Billiken Invitational, Racers fall to Arkansas State and Saint Louis

Saturday, September 4

St. Louis, Mo.

10 a.m.

Murray State

3-2,0-0OVC

Arkansas State

3-2,0-0Sun Belt

Murray St.

Arkansas St.

Watts Lights Up Billiken Invitational, Racers fall to Arkansas State and Saint Louis

9/4/2021 11:07:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score (PDF) - Ark. St. 3, Murray St. 1 Box Score (PDF) - SLU 3, Murray St. 1

The Racers dropped both matches on day two of the Billiken Invitational to Arkansas State and Saint Louis.

The Murray State Racers (3-3, 0-0 OVC) fell in four sets to Arkansas State (4-2, 0-0 Sun Belt), (25-18, 23-25, 22-25, 15-25) and to Saint Louis (3-3, 0-0 A10), (29-31, 17-25, 25-21, 20-25) on Saturday at the Billiken Invitational in St. Louis.

The day was lit up by freshman Brooke Lynn Watts, who led the team with a career-high 29 kills. The freshman out of Odenton, Maryland recorded her fifth and sixth straight 20+ kill matches and her first career double-double adding 10 digs in the Arkansas State match.

All-Tournament team selection, senior Becca Fernandez recorded 33 digs and 23 digs in the two matches.

Bailey DeMier tallied 85 assists and 23 digs, picking up two more double-doubles on the day.

Murray State 1, Arkansas State 3
The Racers began to pull away in the first set with a 7-1 run to spread the score to 16-10 and jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.

After trading points throughout the entire second set, the Racers were up 23-21 before the Red Wolves came back and closed out the set with four consecutive points to even the match at one apiece.

Tied at 12-12 in the third set, Arkansas State rattled off six straight points to take the lead, 18-12, however Murray State fought their way back into the fray until the Red Wolves challenged the Racers with a 24-21 score that the Racers could not climb out of.

In the fourth set, the Red Wolves owned a 17-15 advantage and silenced the Racer offense with a eight-point unanswered run to close the match.

Murray State 1, Saint Louis 3
After a dropping a marathon first set, 31-29, the Racers fought off six set points in the second set before going down 0-2 to the Billikens.

The Racers led the entire third set, starting with a 12-5 lead to open, which included kills from Kolby McClelland and Alysha Smith and a service ace by Fernandez as Murray State cruised to the third set victory.

Saint Louis jumped out ahead in the fourth set, as Murray State crept back into the match, cutting the Billikens lead to two at 17-15. However, Saint Louis pulled away again and closed the match, 25-20.

The Racers stay on the road next weekend, heading to Georgia Southern's Eagle Invitational, Sept. 10-11.