Volleyball Clinches OVC Title Share with Sweep over Skyhawks

Morehead, Ky. -- Morehead State clinched at least a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular season championship with a sweep (25-20, 25-15, 25-17) over UT Martin in the regular season finale Wednesday afternoon in Johnson Arena.

The Morehead State (21-8, 15-3 OVC) attack was led by senior M.E. Hargan with 19 kills on 33 attacks with no errors, posting a .576 hitting percentage. She posted her 34^th career double-double with 10 digs.

Sarah Heath added 10 kills and posted a .333 hitting percentage for the Eagles, which posted a .398 attack efficiency for the match. Amelia Nott smacked seven terminations and matched her career high with five aces.

Both teams started out hot to begin the match. UT Martin (4-25, 3-15 OVC) took an early 5-2 lead and extended the margin to 9-4 with a three-point run and took a 15-13 advantage to the technical timeout. The Eagles reeled off five straight points out of the timeout, highlighted by two Hargan kills, a service ace by setter Sydney Sennett and capped by Amelia Nott's termination. The Eagles outscored the Skyhawks 5-2 to take the first set 25-20.

Both teams' offenses were clicking in the opening frame: MSU posted a .464 hitting percentage and UTM hit .344. UT Martin's Kayla Bryant led the Skyhawks with nine kills while Hargan posted six in the opening frame. Bryant led UTM with 14 kills in the match, posting a .375 attack percentage.

Morehead State outscored UT Martin 10-2 to open the second set, led by Hargan with seven kills. In the set, she tallied seven terminations, and Nott added another three. The Eagles posted a .389 hitting percentage in the frame and held the Skyhawks to just a .080 hitting percentage in the set.

The Eagles used a 6-1 run to grab a 6-3 lead early in the third set and steadily expanded the lead throughout the set. Morehead State posted 13 kills with one error for a .353 attack efficiency in the set and were once again led by Hargan with four kills. Heath and Hollan Everett added three terminations in the final frame.

Morehead State next plays in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament Sunday. The location and the Eagles' seeding are pending the Eastern Illinois – Tennessee Tech match Wednesday afternoon in Cookeville.
 
NOTABLE

• Morehead State, led by Nott with five, notched 11 service aces in the match. Logan Smith and Sennett had two apiece. Courtney Fitzgerald and Tinsley Brown each added one. UTM had four aces, three in the first set. Bryant led with two, giving her 46 on the season.
• Nott now has 110 aces in her career, which is tied for third in the MSU record book for the modern era with Danielle McCarson.
• Hargan ran her season total to 441 kills, which is the fifth-highest total for a season in the modern era.  
• Sydney Sennett finished with 38 assists, her 21^st match of the season with 30+ helpers. She has tallied 1,903 assists in her career to-date.
• Everett notched her 38^th career block solo, tying her for 6^th in the modern era with Mia Swearingen and McKenzee Wagener in the MSU record book.