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MOREHEAD, Ky. -- Looking to defend its Ohio Valley Conference tournament title and head back to the NCAA Tournament, Morehead State volleyball heads right back to Cape Girardeau, Mo., this weekend for the league's championship event.

MSU is seeded second for the tournament and will open play Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET versus No. 7 Belmont. The Eagles swept the Bruins 3-0 twice just two weeks ago and have won eight straight over Belmont.

A potential semifinal matchup would pit the Eagles against either No. 3 Austin Peay or No. 6 Tennessee Tech. APSU beat MSU twice to open league play, and MSU defeated TTU twice.

All matches will air on ESPN+.

2021 RECORDS
MOR: 18-11 (14-4 OVC) | BEL: 9-19 (7-11 OVC) | APSU: 20-11 (13-5 OVC) | TTU: 16-13 (11-7 OVC) | MSU had 10-4 record this season against entire field.

SERIES RECORDS
MOR leads BEL 14-9 | MOR has won 8 straight | Last meeting: 11/6/21 (MOR won 3-0 in Morehead) | MOR leads APSU 49-33 | MOR leads TTU 77-20

NOTABLE

- Morehead State has a 42-31 all-time record in OVC Tournament matches and will be appearing in its 36th all-time event. Since 1981, Morehead State has only not qualified for the tournament five times (1984, 1999, 2005, 2014, 2017). The Eagles are 0-2 all-time against Belmont in tournament matches, 8-4 against Austin Peay and 10-2 versus Tech. As the No. 2 seed, MSU has only been in that slot three times (2002, 2007, 2008) and is 1-3 in those matches as the second slot. Head coach Jaime Gordon has a 17-12 record as the Eagles' bench boss during tournament play.

- Morehead State has won the OVC Tournament four times, including the spring 2021 tournament, and made three NCAA Tournament appearances in its history. The Eagles were defaulted into the championship match of the spring event at home due to a no contest result with SIUE and defeated Jacksonville State. MSU also won its first-ever NCAA Tournament match, defeating Creighton in its hometown of Omaha, Neb. in the opening round.

- MSU has boasted four OVC Tournament Most Valuable Players (Lauren Rokey, spring 2021, Leslie Schellhaas, 2013, Emma Keough, 2011 and Shelly Rocke, 1993). 

- Two-time OVC Player of the Year Olivia Lohmeier continues her assault on the record books. Lohmeier enters the tournament with 1,940 career kills, which is second in MSU program history and third in OVC history. She is striving to become just the third player in league history to achieve 2,000 career kills. Lohmeier has produced 112 career matches in double-digit kills, which is a program record. She also 15 career 20+ kill efforts.

- All-OVC setter Bridget Bessler has 2,840 career assists and led the league in assists per set (11.22) against other OVC teams. It marks her second consecutive season leading the OVC in assists. Bessler's career assist total ranks seventh in overall program history, fourth in the overall rally scoring era (2001-) and second among Eagle setters in the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-). 

- Freshman middle McKenzee Wagener has become a force at the net, ranking third in the OVC in total blocks with 112.0. In just 48 career matches, Wagener has 173 total blocks (3.6 per match). She also has 18 matches this year with 4+ total blocks, including a string of 11 straight outings from Oct. 1 to Oct. 29 with 4+ rejections. 

- Since starting at Tennessee Tech on Oct. 6, freshman right-side attacker Maycie Welborn has been the model of consistency. She has now had 14 consecutive matches with 7+ kills and half of those (7) have resulted in her hitting .300 or better for the match. Her career high is 15 successful spikes on Oct. 29 versus SIUE.

- Junior libero Allison Whitten now has 1,744 career digs and ranks sixth all-time for all era at Morehead State. That total is third place in the overall rally scoring era (2001-) and second in the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-). With two more digs, she'll become just the second MSU player in the 25-point rally scoring era to have three seasons of 400+ digs, joining Leslie Schellhaas.

- Morehead State ranked first in the OVC (conference-only stats) in: opponent hitting percentage (.151), assists (12.97), kills (14.21), aces (101, 1.51) and digs (16.72). 

- When Olivia Montelisciani reached her 1,000th career digs versus Belmont, she joined Allison Whitten as teammates with 1,000+ career digs on the same roster. That's only happened twice, according to the MSU book, in program history. Erin Peak, Ashley Doscher and Katelyn Barbour all had 1,000+ while on the 2008 roster, and Kaitlin Craven and Kirstie Brangers both achieved the milestone in 2010.