Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
7-9 (1-3OVC)
Eastern Kentucky
3-13 (2-2OVC)
Racers Sweep EKU for First OVC Win
9/29/2018 4:35:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
The Murray State volleyball team played their first match of the season at Racer Arena, Saturday afternoon, a place they are 40-2 the last four seasons, and improved that record as they swept Eastern Kentucky for their first OVC win of the season.
The Racers snap a four-match losing streak to improve to 7-9 and 1-3 in the OVC while the Colonels fall to 3-13 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
Junior Rachel Giustino led the Racers with 18 kills while hitting .302. She also added 11 digs for her fourth straight double-double. Sophomore Callie Anderton dished out 31 assists, including her 1,000th of her career in the first set, while also adding five kills on 11 total attacks for a .455 clip.
On defense, sophomore Becca Fernandez led MSU with 21 digs while six different Racers registered a block.
On multiple occasions in the first set, each team looked like they were going to pull away, but each time the other team came back. Murray State took a three-point lead at 14-11, but EKU responded with a 4-0 run to take the lead. When the Colonels took an 18-17, the Racers answered with a 3-0 run, but three straight points by EKU gave them the lead right back. However, Murray State score five straight point to take the first set, culminating with an ace by Fernandez.
Eastern Kentucky jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the second set and held onto that lead until the Racers tied it at 15 on an ace by Fernandez. A 6-1 run the Colonels gave the EKU at 21-15 lead, but the Racers fought back with seven straight points, which included three kills from senior Dacia Brown and one each from Giustino and Anderton. EKU won three of the next four points to get to set point, but a kill by Brown, an error by the Colonels, and finally a kill by junior Megan Lindsay gave the Racer the second set, 26-24.
After EKU won the first two points in the third set, the Racers won the next four, which included three kills by Brown, to take an early 4-2 lead. Murray State expanded their lead to five at 10-5 on a kill by Giustino, but the Colonels slowly climbed back into the set to get to within one at 18-17. However a kill by redshirt-freshman Kolby McClelland and a block by McClelland and Lindsay gave the Racers a three-point lead and forced an EKU timeout.
After the break, McClelland and Giustino followed with two more kills to force another Colonel timeout. Eastern Kentucky got back to within two at 23-21, but an error gave the Racers match point before Giustino gave the Racers the three-set victory with a kill.
Murray State is back in action at Racer Arena next weekend when they host SIU Edwardsville, Friday at 7 p.m. and Eastern Illinois, Saturday at 2 p.m.
