Morehead, Ky. -- The second-seeded Morehead State volleyball team opened the Ohio Valley Conference tournament with a sweep (25-18, 25-19, 25-20) over the number-seven seed SIUE Sunday in Charleston, Illinois.
Morehead State (22-8, 15-3 OVC) was led by a trio of players with double-digit kills, headed by OVC Player of the Year
M.E. Hargan with 12. Junior All-OVC Second Team selection
Hollan Everett and
Sarah Heath added 11 apiece.
Hargan added a match-high 11 digs for her 35
th career double-double and the 15
th of the season. Heath posted a career-high .611 attack efficiency with 11 kills on 18 swings with no errors. Everett hit .269 and added three blocks, including a block solo.
Junior
Amelia Nott, also an All-OVC Second Team selection this season, led a stout effort at the net for Morehead State with five total blocks, including one solo. The Eagles held the SIUE to a .134 hitting percentage for the match.
Junior All-OVC First Team selection
Sydney Sennett posted 36 assists, running the Morehead State offense that posted a .347 attack efficiency. The match was the 22
nd of the season and the 11
th of the last 13 in which Sennett posted 30+ assists.
The first set opened closely contested. A five-point run by Morehead State highlighted by two kills from Sennett and a
Logan Smith service ace put the Eagles ahead 12-7. A 4-0 Eagle run stretched the MSU lead to 16-8. MSU closed out the set with Hargan's fourth kill of the set. The Eagles got a balanced attack: five players had multiple kills led by Hargan and Everett with four apiece.
A three-point run highlighted by an ace by Eagle libero
Courtney Fitzgerald gave MSU an early 8-4 lead in the second set. SIUE responded with small runs and stayed within three points of the Eagles into the late portion of the set. The Eagles closed out the set with a 4-1 run powered by two kills from Everett, who slammed five in the set. Hargan and Heath each tallied four terminations apiece as the MSU attack revved up to post a .500 attack percentage in the frame.
The third set mirrored the opening frame opening closely contested. A 3-0 run capped by Fitzgerald's second ace of the match was answered by a four-point SIUE run to put the Cougars ahead 9-7. A four-point SIUE run gave the Cougars their largest lead of the match at 15-10.
A five-point run highlighted by two kills by Everett tied up the set 15-15. A six-point Eagle run gave MSU separation at 21-17. Hargan closed out the match with two kills to give the Eagles the match victory. MSU posted a .323 attack percentage in the final frame.
SIUE (12-18, 7-11 OVC) was led by Sophie Robinson with nine kills, hitting .278. Grace Nichols and Kyndia Smith added six kills apiece.
Morehead State advances to the semi-finals where they will face the winner of the Southern Indiana-Tennessee Tech match. First service is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET.
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NOTABLE
- Morehead State posted a 5-3 advantage in service aces. Fitzgerald matched her season high with three. Fitzgerald has smacked 28 aces this season and 73 in her career.
- MSU's .347 hitting percentage was the third match in a row the Eagles managed a .300+ efficiency, and the sixth in the last seven outings. Hargan's .357 efficiency was her third match in a row over .300, and the ninth time this season she has surpassed that mark.
- The Eagles posted a 6-3 advantage in total blocks over SIUE. Nott's five total blocks give her 285 over her career, passing Olivia Lohmeier for eighth in the MSU record book for the modern era.
- Everett recorded a block solo, her 21st of the season, which ties her with Emma Keough (2010) for ninth in the MSU record book for the modern era. It also gives her 39 block solos for her career, good for sixth alone in the MSU records.
- Morehead State finished with a 40-33 advantage in digs. Hargan (11) and Fitzgerald (10) led the effort for MSU. Both are in the top-10 in the MSU record book for the modern era in digs. Fitzgerald is eighth with 937 career digs and Hargan has tallied 931 career digs, which ranks ninth.
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