Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Morehead State volleyball senior
Holly Evans smashed a career high 23 kills and hit .519, but the Eagles could not hold onto a lead at Austin Peay Friday night and dropped a 3-2 (25-20, 16-25, 25-23, 16-25, 9-15) contest to the Lady Govs. MSU faltered for the first time this year in a league match, falling to 8-1.
The Eagles still hold onto first place in the OVC by a match over APSU, which improved to 16-4 overall and 7-2 in the league. MSU won the first set to run its set winning streak to 16 before dropping set two.
Evans, the OVC’s leading hitter in efficiency, had just three errors on 39 attempts and landed a season and career high 23 kills to lead all players. The Eagles also got 14 kills from sophomore
Ellie Roberson, and a double double (10k, 12d) from
Kaitlin Craven. Setter
Kirstie Brangers also notched a double-double with a match best 56 assists and 12 digs. The Eagles had 88 total digs, including a career high 15 from
Aryn Bohannon and a team high 20 from junior
Liz Schuler.
Where the Eagles hurt themselves though was on offense. MSU, which came in as the leading hitting team in the OVC, was limited to a .171 effort as it made 28 attack errors and also six service errors. On the other hand, the Eagles were victimized by 12 aces from the APSU servers.
Emma Keough did have six blocks for the Eagles.
Austin Peay had four players reach double digit in kills, led by Ilyanna Hernandez and Nikki Doyle. Both had double-doubles. Hernandez had a team high 15 kills and 19 digs, while Doyle landed 14 kills and dug 17 balls. The Lady Gov defense out-dug the MSU contingent, 101-88. Paige Economos had a match high 32 ups.
The ebb and flow of the match shifted back and forth from set to set. The Eagles hit .286 with 15 kills to edge APSU in the opener 25-20. But, the Eagles committed nine errors in the second set to go along wth nine kills. In the third, the Eagles rebounded with 16 kills and three blocks while forcing the hosts into eight attack errors.
The fourth and fifth frames were controlled by the Lady Govs. They had 23 kills and no errors, plus six aces to overpower MSU.
The Eagles will look to rebound on Saturday when they face Tennessee State in Nashville at 3 p.m. EST.
