Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Eastern Illinois
Racers to Wrap up Regular Season at EIU, SIUE
11/7/2018 2:40:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
Dates:Â Nov. 9 and Nov. 10, 2018
Match Time:Â 7 p.m. and 2 p.m.
Opponents:Â Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville
Site (Venue):Â Charleston, Ill. (Lantz Arena) and Edwardsville, Ill. (Vadalabene Center)
Live Stats:Â EIU | SIUE
Watch: SIUE
Murray State Record (Streak):Â 17-9, 11-3 OVC (W11)
Eastern Illinois Record (Streak):Â 10-19, 5-9 OVC (L1)
SIU Edwardsville Record (Streak): 9-17. 8-6 OVC (W1)
All-Time Series vs. EIU (Streak):Â 26-24 (W6)
All-Time Series vs. SIUE (Streak): 16-3 (W1)
MSU Next Matches: OVC Tournament, November 15-17
This Weekend
The Racers will wrap up the regular season on the road with matches against Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville. They will play the penultimate game of the season against EIU at 7 p.m. and will conclude with SIUE, Saturday at 2 p.m. Murray State swept both the Panthers and the Cougars earlier in the season.
Previous Match
It took five sets, but the Murray State volleyball team extended their winning streak to 11 with a road win at Morehead State, Saturday afternoon. After taking the first two sets, 27-25, 25-13, the dropped the following two sets, 23-25, 19-25, but came back to win the fifth set, 15-11. With the win, Murray State improves to 17-9 and 11-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference and clinched a top-two seed in the OVC tournament, but still remain one match behind Austin Peay with two matches to go. Senior Dacia Brown led the Racers with 17 kills while hitting .390. Sophomore Katirah Johnson hit a game-high .579 with 13 kills while junior Rachel Holthaus hit .444 with nine kills. Sophomore Becca Fernandez had 22 digs and junior Rachel Giustino recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs. Sophomore Ashley McBee dished out 52 assists and Johnson contributed a team-high five blocks.Â
OVC Honors
Four different Racers have been honored by the Ohio Valley Conference this season for a total of six times. Rachel Giustino and Becca Fernandez have each claimed the Offensive and Defensive player of the week two times, respectively, while Dacia Brown won Offensive player of the week once in addition to Ashley McBee winning Setter of the Week one time as well.
Home Sweet Home
With the win over Austin Peay, October 30, the Racers capped off an undefeated home campaign as they went 8-0 at Racer Arena this season. It is the third time in the last five seasons Murray State has gone unblemished at home and are now 48-2 in Murray since 2014.
Leading the Pack
Junior Rachel Giustino is currently leading the OVC with 3.89 kills per set and 4.33 points per set. Two other Racers are near the top of a statistical leaderboard as Dacia Brown is second in points per set (4.26) and Becca Fernandez is second in digs per set (5.66).
20-20 Vision
Rachel Giustino recorded the first 20-20 match of her career against SEMO, October 27. becoming the first Racer to accomplish the feat since 3-time OVC Player of the Year Scottie Ingram accomplished the feat in the 2016 OVC Championship match against SIUE and the first time in a four-set match since Ingram did it against San Diego State on September 3, 2016. Before Ingram, a Racer had not had a 20-20 match since Tara DeMage in 2007.
OVC Tournament Seeding Scenarios
The Racers have clinched at least a top-two seed in the OVC Tournament with the chance of still claiming the one-seed and the regular-season championship. MSU is currently one match behind Austin Peay with two matches to go for both teams. In the event of a tie, since the teams split their two matches, the tiebreaker will be percentage of sets won versus OVC opponents. If there is a tie, both teams will be crowned regular-season champions.
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Scouting Eastern Illinois
The Panthers are coming off a four-set loss at Southeast Missouri and now sit at 5-9 in the OVC. Taylor Smith has triple-doubles in four straight matches. Her four triple-doubles are currently second in the nation. Laurel Bailey leads the team in kills with 2.98 per set, Anne Hughes leads the defense with 5.13 digs per set, and Bailey Chandler leads with 5.55 assists per set. EIU is currently 28th in the nation in digs with 17.26 per set.
Scouting SIU Edwardsville
The Cougars enter this weekend winners of four of their last five matches, including a four-set win at UT Martin, Saturday. Hope Everett led the team with 13 kills and six blocks while. Sami Knight had 25 assists while Mallory Nicholson had 23 assists. Jordyn Klein led the back line defense with 16 digs. Rachel McDonald currently leads the team with 3.01 kills per set. During OVC play, SIUE leads the conference in kills per set (13.90), assists per set (13.23) and digs per set (18.77).
