Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
21-9
Morehead State
21-10
Racers Advance to OVC Title Match with Four-Set Win over Morehead State
11/16/2018 5:31:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
For the fifth straight season, the Murray State volleyball team will play in the OVC championship match, after defeating Morehead State in a thrilling four-set semifinal match, Friday afternoon in Clarksville, Tennessee.
The Racers cruised to a 25-17 first-set win but found themselves in a battle the rest of the way as the Eagles won the second set, 27-25, before Murray State came back to take the third set, 25-23, and the fourth set, 26-24. The Racers have now won 15 straight matches.
Senior Dacia Brown led the Racers with 15 kills while juniors Rachel Giustino and Rachel Holthaus each racked up 12 kills. Holthaus faced a tough challenge in the middle going up against the top blocking team in the OVCÂ but managed to hit a team-high .407.
Holthaus also tallied 14 digs, matching her with sophomore Becca Fernandez for the team lead, to pick up her first double-double of the season, while Giustino had 13 digs of her own for her 19th double-double. Sophomore Ashley McBee paced the offense with 46 assists.
The Racers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead in the first set and never let it get away as the rolled to a 25-17 victory. As a team, Murray State hit .321, led by Brown and redshirt-freshman Kolby McClelland who had four kills each, while also holding the Eagles to a .086 clip for the set.
The second set looked to be more of the same for the Racers as Brown started the set with three straight kills which were followed by a bad Morehead State set and a service ace by McBee to give the Racers a 5-0 lead. However, the Eagles clawed their way back to tie the set at nine before taking the lead at 15-14. Holthaus saved two set points with kills, but Morehead State held on to take the set, 27-25.
No team could pull away in the third set, as the biggest lead for either team was two until the Racers earned a set point at 24-21. Two straight points by the Eagles made it interesting, but Brown gave Murray State the all-important third set with a kill.
The fourth set started similar to the third as it remained close early on until the Eagles took a 13-9 lead. Head coach David Schwepker called a timeout to regroup and the players responded as they went on a 6-0 run out of the timeout to take a 15-13 lead. The Racers held onto that two-point lead at 20-18, but a 5-1 run by the Eagles gave them the two-point lead as they looked to force a fifth set. After an error by Morehead State, a huge block by Brown tied the set at 23. After trading points, McClelland had a kill down the line to give the Racers the lead, before an error by the Eagles gave Murray State the match.
The Racers will play for the title tomorrow at noon against the winner of the #1 Austin Peay/#4 Jacksonville State match.
