STATSMOREHEAD, Ky. - After splitting their first two matches in the Comfort Inn-Vitational on Friday, the Morehead State volleyball team fell 3-0 to Samford in the finale. They lost 25-16, 25-17, 25-21.
After playing nine competive sets yesterday, head coach
Jaime Gordon acknowledged that his team may have been a bit fatigued on Saturday afternoon, but he feels the key is putting it all together in one match.
"Yesterday our offense was running really well. We were able to get some good play out of our blocking. We had a great net presence. But, we struggled a little bit with our serve and pass game," said Gordon. "Today we improved on our serve and pass, but those other areas, like our offense and blocking, were not up to par, which was a little bit disheartening. There were times yesterday when we were gelling and playing some good disciplined defense. Today that discipline dropped a bit and I don't know if that is because of the nine long sets we played yesterday, but those aren't excuses, every time we step out on the court we have to make sure that we're doing everything that we are capable of."
Junior
Courtney Smith did a little bit of everything for the Eagles as she lined up as both an outside hitter and a libero. She finished the match with three kills, two aces, and three digs.
"I saw a lot of positives. We passed better today than we have all weekend," said Smith. "Today gave us an opportunity to work on our energy because that team (Samford) came out with a lot of energy and a lot of passion. That's something that we need to work on. We need to be really loud when we win points and even when we don't we need to stay together. When we do that we have a good time and we win."
Freshman
Merideth Jewell led the Eagles with 11 kills and senior
Hannah Sigala and junior
Sydney Schuler each had four.Â
Now 13 games into the season, Morehead State has one more non-conference game, at Wright State on Tuesday, before entering OVC play.
"We have one more opportunity to get the ship headed in the right direction before we start off conference play," said Goron. "It gives us another opportunity to play on the road in a hostile environment and that will be critical for us to be successful in conference play."
Despite their early season struggles, Gordon believes that his team can do big things.
"I hope this team understands what we're capable of doing," said Gordon. "Each person on this team has showed really great play and great moments throughout the season. We just need to get everybody on that same page. The good thing is that we have all of the pieces, we just have to work to get it all together at once."
The Eagles go to Wright State on Tuesday and then open conference play at home against Tennessee State on Friday and Belmont on Saturday.
Comfort Inn-Vitational All-Tournament Team(MVP) Rylee Milhorn - East Tennessee State
Khadijah Wiley - East Tennessee State
Kristen Favre - East Tennessee State
Erin Brognar - Samford
T.J. Russell - Samford
Amanda Bedell - Akron
Allie Kellerman - Marshall
Jordan Jones - Morehead State
