Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
16-9 (10-3OVC)
Austin Peay
22-4 (11-2OVC)
Defense Leads Racers Past Austin Peay for Tenth Straight Win
10/30/2018 9:41:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team made it ten wins in a row, Tuesday evening, as they took down first-place Austin Peay in four sets, 25-14, 25-15, 14-25, 25-11, at Racer Arena in the Heritage Bank Battle of the Border.
MSU improves to 16-9 and 10-3 in the OVC and are now just one match behind APSU, who falls to 22-4 and 11-2 in conference play.
It is also the third straight match the Racers have avenged a loss from earlier in the season after defeating Southeast Missouri and UT Martin last week.
The Racers needed to play stellar defense against the top hitting team in the Ohio Valley Conference and they did just that, as they held the Governors to a season-low hitting percentage of .068, including a negative hitting percentage in three of the four sets.
Sophomore libero Becca Fernandez anchored the Racer back line as she racked up 29 digs, her second-highest output of the season and the most she has had in a four-set match. Junior Rachel Holthaus and sophomore Ashley McBee contributed to MSU's 74 digs with 11 each. Junior Rachel Giustino saw her 12-match double-double streak come to an end, but still tallied nine digs.
Giustino and senior Dacia Brown led the Racers on offense with 14 kills each and McBee dished out 38 assists. Sophomore Katirah Johnson led the Murray State frontline defense, matching a career high in blocks with six while Holthaus and McBee had four each.
With the score tied at two early in the first set, the Racers went on a 6-1 run to take an 8-3, which they would not give up. The Govs got back to within one at 11-10, but a 5-0 run by MSU, which included two kills by Brown, to extend the lead back up to six. The rest of the set was smooth sailing as the Racers ended the set on an 8-2 run to go up early in the match.
The Racers jumped out to a 3-0 lead on a Gov error, Brown kill, and Johnson block, but Austin Peay clawed back to tie the set at eight and take the lead at 12-11. However, an 8-1 run by the Racers, which included three kills from junior Megan Lindsay, flipped the momentum back to MSU, who was able to ride the wave to a 25-15 win, ending the set with four straight points.
Austin Peay played their best set of the night in the third as they took control with a 5-0 run about midway through the set to take a 14-8 lead. The Racers were unable to mount a comeback as the match went to a fourth set.
With a raucous crowd behind them in the fourth set, Murray State jumped out to a 4-2 lead, but the Governors came back to take a one-point lead at 6-5. Similar to the second set after falling behind by one, the Racers answered with a big run, winning nine of the next 10 points to double up Austin Peay at 14-7. After the Govs cut their deficit to 15-10, the Racers ended the set on a 10-1 run to take the match and remain undefeated at home this season.
With the win tonight, the Racers add three points in the Battle of the Border and now lead Austin Peay, 12-3, through five events.
The Racers hit the road for their final three matches of the season, beginning with Morehead State, Saturday at 1 p.m.
