By Ryan Frye, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
GAME NOTES | ESPN+ (GAME ONE | GAME TWO) | LIVE STATS (GAME ONE | GAME TWO)
MOREHEAD, Ky. – Looking to build upon the successes of a season that saw the program return to the Ohio Valley Conference Championship match and the postseason for the first time since 2013, Morehead State volleyball begins its much-anticipated 2020-21 season Sunday afternoon.
Hitting the court for the first time since making an appearance in the National Invitational Volleyball Championship on Dec. 7, 2019, the Eagles open the 2020-21 season with a pair of matches at Eastern Illinois.
In addition to the season taking place in the spring, the 2020-21 season features a unique setup, featuring a 16-game conference-only schedule. Being limited to OVC play isn't the only quirk of the upcoming slate as the schedule includes back-to-back matches with a single opponent contested on Sundays and Mondays.
Nevertheless, Morehead State returns one of the most experienced teams in the OVC, returning all six starters and the libero from last season's 23-10 NIVC team. Of the returners, three found themselves on the Preseason All-OVC Team as sophomore setter
Bridget Bessler and senior outside hitters
Olivia Lohmeier and
Lauren Rokey were honored.
The Eagles also feature the conference's leading returning attackers with Lohmeier returning after ranking top-25 in the NCAA and second in the OVC in six different offensive categories. Junior middle blocker
Hannah Keating also returns after leading the OVC in 2019 in hitting percentage, posting an efficiency of .339.
First serve for Morehead State's season-opening meetings with Eastern Illinois are slated for 4 p.m. ET on both Sunday and Monday. Both matches from Lantz Arena in Charleston, Ill. will air on ESPN+.
INSIDE THE SERIES
2019 Records: Morehead State (23-10; 12-4 OVC) | Eastern Illinois (3-26; 1-15 OVC)
Series: Morehead State leads 21-19
Last Five Meetings: Oct. 25, 2019 (MOR 3, EIU 0) | Oct. 20, 2018 (EIU 3, MOR 0) | Oct. 13, 2017 (MOR 3, EIU 0) | Oct. 15, 2016 (MOR 3, EIU 2) | Nov. 7, 2015 (MOR 3, EIU 2)
NOTABLE
Morehead State enters the 2020-21 Ohio Valley Conference volleyball season picked to finish third in the conference's Predicted Order of Finish. The Eagles accrued 214 total points while receiving seven first-place votes, the second-highest total of first-place votes by a single league member.
The Eagles also placed three players on the 14-member Preseason All-OVC Team as senior outside hitters Olivia Lohmeier and Lauren Rokey along with sophomore setter Bridget Bessler garnered selection. Morehead State's three selections were the second most among OVC institutions.
With three Preseason All-OVC selections in 2020-21, Morehead State has secured three members of the Preseason All-OVC team for the second consecutive season. The occasion marks the first time for the program with three or more selections in consecutive seasons since doing so in three straight from 2010-12.
With her selection to the Preseason All-OVC Team, Rokey becomes the first Morehead State player since Amy Almond from 2000-02 to earn three consecutive Preseason All-Conference selections.
Bessler, Lohmeier, and Rokey return after garnering First Team All-OVC selection in 2019. The Eagles' three selections to the postseason All-Conference First Team were the most in a season with split All-OVC Teams—First or Second Team All-OVC—since placing three on the eight-member First Team in 1988.
In addition to her First Team All-OVC selection in 2019, Bessler also claimed the conference's Freshman of the Year honors, earning Morehead State its OVC-leading sixth Freshman of the Year. Additionally, her selection marked the fifth selection under head coach Jaime Gordon, two more than the next closest program (Murray State; three) in the OVC.
Earning both pre and postseason All-OVC selections in 2019, Lohmeier and Rokey were the first Eagles since 2016 to garner both selections in the same season and the first set of teammates to do so since 2011.
Morehead State also returns two members of last season's OVC Postseason All-Tournament Team as Lohmeier and junior middle blocker Hannah Keating earned selections after leading the Eagles to the 2019 OVC Tournament Championship match.
Lohmeier enters the 2020-21 season as the leading returner in the OVC in six different offensive categories after ranking second in the OVC and top-25 in the country in each of the six categories (attacks, attacks per set, kills, kills per set, points, and points per set).
Keating also enters the 2020-21 season as the leading returner in the OVC in hitting percentage, crafting a .339 percentage last season. She had 19 matches last season in which she hit .300 or better, including a career-high .833 hitting percentage (10 kills, no errors, 12 attacks) versus Jacksonville State in last season's OVC Tournament.
Morehead State enters the 2020-21 season with two players nearing membership in their position's 1,000-clubs. Rokey enters the season four kills shy of 1,000 for her career while junior libero Allison Whitten sits 45 digs shy of 1,000 for her career.
Lohmeier finished the 2019 season with 564 kills—the fourth-most in a single season at Morehead State—to become the first player since Ellie Roberson in 2012 to record 500 or more kills.
Whitten closed the 2019 season recording Morehead State's 16th 500-plus dig season, concluding the year with 514 digs. She was the first player since 2013 with such a season, becoming the fourth player in program history to record 500 or more digs in a season as an underclassman (five total occurrences).
In 2019, Bessler became just the fifth freshman setter in program history to pass our 1,000 or more assists in a season, totaling 1,176. She is the first freshman setter since 2001 (Casie Garland) to accomplish the feat while her 11.42 assists per set marked the highest total for an Eagle setter since 2011.
Totaling 228 digs, Bessler also ensured that Morehead State has had a freshman record 200 or more digs in six consecutive seasons dating back to 2014.
Collecting 117.0 total blocks and 23 block solos last season, junior middle blocker Mia Swearingen ensured the Eagles have had a blocker record 100 or more blocks in a season for the fourth-straight year while her 23 solo blocks were the most by an Eagle since 2015 (Hannah Sigala; 25).
Entering the 2020-21 season, Morehead State sits at 989 victories as a program, needing 11 to achieve 1,000 victories. In reaching 1,000 victories as a program, Morehead State would become the first Ohio Valley Conference team to reach 1,000 victories as a program.
