Austin Peay Lady Govs Volleyball sweep Eastern Illinois

APSU Sports Information: APSU Volleyball

Charleston, IL – Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team shook off the disappointment of a night before and swept a three-set Ohio Valley Conference match (27-25, 25-16, 25-17) from an error-prone Eastern Illinois squad, Saturday, at Lantz Arena.

Austin Peay (7-17, 5-8 OVC), less than 24 hours removed from a five-set loss at SIU Edwardsville, got off to a slow start against Eastern Illinois (8-16, 5-8 OVC). The Panthers scored six of the match’s first eight points, including kills by Emily Franklin and Alison Berens.

The Lady Govs took their first lead, 13-12, with a four-point burst aided entirely by four EIU attack errors. Austin Peay later built its largest lead, 20-17, courtesy a 5-2 run that saw four different APSU hitters record a kill.

But after reaching 23-20 Austin Peay’s offense stalled and allowed Eastern Illinois to tie the set three times, including 25-25. The Lady Govs finally got back on track with senior Ilyanna Hernandez posting a kill to give APSU its third set point and then going back to serve an ace to end the set.

That set-saving effort was the end of any drama in the match’s remainder as Austin Peay did not trail in the second set and only for a point in the third set. In the second set, Austin Peay broke out to a six-point, 9-3 lead and did not look back.

In the third, the Lady Govs led 9-4 but later surrendered four straight points to take a 14-13 lead. But Austin Peay tied the set on the next serve – the first of six straight points that gave APSU a 19-14 lead it would not relinquish.

Austin Peay needed just 38 kills (.209 attack percentages) in the win, adding seven service aces and eight blocks. Hernandez led the offensive effort with 11 kills. Freshman middle blocker Hillary Plybon had seven blocks and seven kills.

Eastern Illinois finished with 36 kills but committed 28 attack errors (.060 attack percentage) to aid the Austin Peay victory. Emily Franklin had a team-best 11 kills but negated the effort with 11 attack errors (.000 attack percentage).

Austin Peay, which moved into a three-team tie for seventh place in the OVC standings, begins its final homestand – a three-match stretch – with a 6:00pm, Tuesday contest against league-leading Morehead State.