APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – Special teams work carried the day as Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team became the fourth NCAA Division I team to 20 wins this season with a four-set Ohio Valley Conference victory (25-15, 25-14, 13-25, 25-19) against Belmont, Thursday night.
Austin Peay (20-4, 8-1 OVC) recorded just 40 kills in the four-set win but used 12 blocks and seven service aces to pull away from the Bruins. The 12 blocks were the Govs most in OVC play this season and its seven aces were its second most in league play.
Belmont (11-10, 6-3 OVC) also finished with 40 kills. However, a 49-error outing handcuffed the Bruins as they were charged with 27 attack errors (12 forced by an APSU block), seven service errors, seven reception errors, three blocking errors and five ball handling errors.
Ashley Slay paced the Govs with 11 kills and six blocks while posting a .296 attack percentage. Brooke Moore led the Govs service effort with five service aces along with five kills and two blocks.
Belmont’s Arianna Person led all hitters with 17 kills but was held to a .156 attack percentage. Mackenzie LePage had five blocks to lead the Bruins’ nine-block outing.
Set By Set
SET 1 | GOVS 25-15
Austin Peay took the lead for good at 5-3 on back-to-back kills from Brooke Moore and Ashley Slay. However, the Govs did not extend the lead to more than three points until Moore served up 10 consecutive points, including three service aces, to build a 24-11 lead en route to the opening set win.
SET 2 | GOVS 25-14
The Govs took control of the second set a little earlier after a 5-0 run, punctuated by back-to-back kills from Slay, pushed them to a 6-2 lead. Austin Peay would extend the lead with a pair of 5-0 runs – one midway through the set and the other giving the Govs set point, 24-13.
SET 3 | BRUINS 13-25: Belmont turned the tables out of the break, using a 4-0 run to take control of the set at 8-4. The Govs offense could not get on track with just three kills while committing eight errors in the frame. Four of those errors came in a 6-0 Belmont run that put the set away, 21-12, as they avoided the sweep.
SET 4 | GOVS 25-19: Each team traded blows in the opening part of the fourth set, the Govs opening with a 5-0 run before Belmont leveled the set with a 6-1 run. But Slay and Kristen Stucker combined on a block to prevent the Bruins from taking the lead. The Govs built a 5-0 run on that block to gain control of the set, 11-6, with Belmont getting no closer than that five-point margin the rest of the way.
Govs Notably
Fourth to 20. Austin Peay joined VCU, Western Kentucky and North Dakota as the only Division I teams with 20 or more wins in 2017.
Slay Blocks to Third. Slay’s six-block night vaulted her into third on the Governors career blocks list. She finished the night with 323 career blocks and moved past Laura Wussow (321, 2003-06) on the list. Slay needs just three blocks to move into second and is 26 blocks away from breaking the 18-year old blocks record.
402/98. On the night she was recognized for her 400th career win, APSU head coach Taylor Mott moved one win closer to her 100th Austin Peay win. She now has 98 victories in her sixth season as the Governors head coach. Only one other head coach has recorded 100 wins at Austin Peay – Cheryl Holt, who recorded 364 victories in her 23-season tenure (1982-2004)
Next Up for APSU Volleyball
Austin Peay continues its Homecoming homestand with a 6:00pm, Friday contest against Tennessee State.
