Volleyball Opens up Conference Play Hosting Eastern Illinois

Friday, September 24

Murray, Ky.

6 p.m.

Murray State

Eastern Illinois

Photo by: Justine Ertl - Murray State Athletics

Volleyball Opens up Conference Play Hosting Eastern Illinois

9/23/2021 10:08:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Match Notes (PDF)

Volleyball hosts Eastern Illinois on Friday and Saturday to begin OVC play

The Murray State Racers volleyball team (6-4) is slated to open up conference play with their home opening series against Eastern Illinois (7-3).

The two will clash in back-to-back nights beginning Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m., both on ESPN+.

MURRAY STATE VS. EASTERN ILLINOIS
Friday, September 17 | 9 a.m. CT
Live Video (ESPN+) | Live Stats

Saturday, September 11 | 2 p.m. CT
Live Video (ESPN+) | Live Stats

QUICK HITS
- The 2021 season marks the 39th year of Murray State volleyball.
- Murray State was picked to finish seventh in the OVC in the conference's preseason poll.
- Murray State's 2021 schedule boasts four non-conference tournaments after playing a conference-only schedule in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. The Racers will travel twice to Georgia to compete in the Mercer Bear Classic (Aug. 27-28) and in Georgia Southern's Eagle Invitational (Sept. 10-11), to St. Louis, Missouri to play in Saint Louis's Billiken Invitational (Sept. 3-4) before closing out non-conference play the University of Evansville's Dunn Hospitality Invitational (Sept. 17-18).
- Head coach Dave Schwepker stands at 354-302 in his 24th season in Murray. He is joined by assistant coach Alison Hrusovsky who enters her third season with the Racers.
- The Racers roster features a pair of seniors, one redshirt senior, two juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen.

LAST TIME OUT
- The Racers went 1-1 over the weekend, sweeping Cleveland State, 25-16, 25-17, 25-15 before falling to Evansville in straight sets 17-25, 31-33, 17-25 to close out non-conference play, 6-4.
- Freshman outside hitter Alexa Harris had a breakout weekend, leading the Racers' offensive attack, averaging 4.67 kills per set while hitting .310 in the two matches.
- Harris and Brooke Lynn Watts were the lone Racers to record double-digit kills in each match.
- Senior libero Becca collected 24 digs over the weekend, continuing her streak of tallying double-digit digs in every match this season.
- Harris and Fernandez were named to the Dunn Hospitality All-Tournament Team.
- In addition, Harris claimed OVC Newcomer of the Week for the first time in her career for her efforts over the weekend.

PRESEASON POLL
- The Racers were tabbed to finish seventh in the preseason OVC poll collecting 74 points.
- 2020 OVC Tournament Champion Morehead State was tabbed as the preseason favorite as they received 161 points and 17 of 20 first-place votes while Southeast Missouri (136 points, three first-place votes) and Austin Peay (121 Points) was picked second and third, respectively.
- Senior Becca Fernandez was named to the Preseason All-OVC team for the third year in a row and sophomore Jayla Holcombe was named for the first time in her career.

NONCONFERENCE SEASON
- The Racers went 6-4 in non-conference to start the 2021 season, going 5-1 at neutral sites and 1-3 on the road with tournaments at Mercer, Saint Louis, Georgia Southern and Evansville.

HOMEOPENER
- The Racers are 21-16 in home openers and 12-5 in homeopeners against an OVC opponent. Murray State is 3-1 against Eastern Illinois in OVC openers.

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
- Senior libero Becca Fernandez broke Murray State's All-Time Digs record, collecting 41 digs at the Eagle Invitational to surpass Kayleah Sauer ('08-'11) with 2,166 career digs.
- Watts broke the Racers' Single Match (4-set) Kills Record with 34 kills in the win over Georgia Southern on a .387 hitting efficiency.

BEST IN THE NATION
- As a team, Murray State is second the nation in Kills Per Set (15.05) and third in Assists Per Set (13.73).
- Freshman outside hitter Brooke Lynn Watts leads the NCAA in Kills Per Set, averaging 5.81 kills per set. The 2021 Gatorade State Player of the Year (Maryland) has recorded double-digit kills in every match to start the season.
- Watts also leads the NCAA in Attacks Per Set (15.13) and is second in Points Per Set (6.46).
- Watts' 34 kills against Georgia Southern are the most in the NCAA for a 4-set match this season.
- Senior libero Becca Fernandez sits fourth in the NCAA in Digs Per Set, averaging 5.89 digs per set.
- Freshman setter Bailey DeMier is fifth in the NCAA in Assists Per Set (11.41).

THE OVC STACK UP
- As a team, Murray leads the OVC in assists per set (14.03), kills per set (15.29) and is second in hitting percentage (.231) and digs per set (18.23) .
- Watts leads in the OVC in kills per set and points per set. Watts is averaging 5.89 kills per set, leading the next closest player by more than a kill per set.
- Watts also tops the OVC in points per set averaging 6.39 with 188 total kills, seven aces, one block solo and four block assists in 31 sets played.
- Freshman setter Bailey DeMier has led the Racer offense with 363 assists. Her 11.41 assists per set is best in the OVC and third in the NCAA.
- Libero Becca Fernandez is first in the OVC in digs per set, averaging 5.89 digs/set.

OVC HONORS
- Through the first four weeks of the 2021, the Racers have earned seven OVC Player of the Week honors, the most of any team in the conference.
- Freshman Alexa Harris claimed her first career OVC honor, Newcomer of the Week after averaging 4.67 kills per set on a .310 hitting clip.
- Freshman Brooke Lynn Watts has claimed five honors, three Newcomer of the Weeks and two Offensive Player of the Week in the first three weeks of the season.
- Senior Becca Fernandez won OVC Defensive Player of the Week for the week of 9/6

MAKING AN ENTRANCE
- Freshman outside Alexa Harris had a breakout weekend, setting a season-high 12 kills in the sweep over Cleveland State before upping it to 16 kills the following day against Evansville with a .355 hitting efficiency to be named the OVC Newcomer of the Week.

INDIVIDUAL HIGHLIGHTS
- Sophomore middle blocker Morgan Price tied her career-high seven kills on a .467 attacking clip.
- Freshman setter Bailey DeMier tied her season-high, four kills, against Evansville.

TRIO OF MIDDLES
- Out of the middle attack, the Racers have used three consistently, redshirt senior Kolby McClelland, who is second on the team in kills (73), sophomore Darci Metzger, third on team in kills (54) and sophomore Morgan Price, third on team in blocks per set (0.37).

SERIES HISTORY
- The Racers lead the series against the Panthers, 30-25. The two teams split the series last year, each taking a four-set victory.

SCOUTING EASTERN ILLINOIS
- The Panthers ended non-conference play with a 7-3 record, going 4-1 at home, 1-2 on the road, and 2-0 neutral.
- EIU swept both the EIU Panther Invitational and the Southern Illinois Saluki Tournament and split with Northern Illinois.
- This past weekend, EIU dropped both matches in the home-and-home series with Indiana State.
- In 2020, Eastern Illinois went 2-14 during the conference-only season.
- The Panthers are hitting .217 as a whole, third in the OVC, averaging 11.76 kills per set. EIU leads the league with 82 service aces, 2.16 per set. Four players own double-digit aces.
- Senior Danielle Allen leads EIU with a team-best 128 kills, averaging 3.37 per set, fifth in the OVC.
- Panther setter, junior Summerlyn Smith, was named the OVC Setter of the Week (Sept. 13), the first honor in her career. Smith has 283 assists and 68 digs on the season.
- Sophomore Christina Martinez Mundo and junior Lorraine Perez pace the back row with 104 and 92 digs, respectively.
- Sara Thomas enters her second season as the head coach. Thomas is assisted by Manolo Concepcion and Ana Paula Zandona.