APSU Women’s Volleyball
Doyle named MVP
Morehead, KY – It took 19 years, but Austin Peay’s volleyball team clinched the program’s second-ever Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Championship with a four-set (23-25, 25-14, 25-21, 25-14) victory against regular-season champion Morehead State, Saturday, at Wetherby Gymnasium.
Austin Peay (26-6), which won its only previous tournament title in 1991, receives the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Volleyball Championship that begins December 2nd. It will be the Lady Govs first NCAA Tournament appearance
Sophomore Nikki Doyle was named the tournament’s “Most Valuable Player” after recording 17 kills against Morehead State and finishing with 34 kills and a .321 attack percentage in the tournament.
Senior Sarah Alisaleh and junior Ilyanna Hernandez also were named to the all-tournament team. Alisaleh recorded 102 sets in the two championship matches while Hernandez finished with 26 kills, including 16 in the title match.
After winning the second set by an impressive 25-14 margin, Austin Peay (26-6) found itself down five points, 17-12, in the third set and struggling to regain that momentum. Yet the Lady Govs mounted a match-changing 13-4 run the set’s remainder. Six different Austin Peay hitters recorded a kill during the run, Hernandez’ kill giving APSU its first lead since early in the match and senior Taylor Skinner sealed the victory with a kill.
Austin Peay would lead the fourth set wire-to-wire, beginning with the set’s first four points. Another 5-1 run drained the drama out of the set, pushing the lead to 9-2 and it would not get closer than that the rest of the way.
Morehead State (25-8), which lost in the championship match for a second consecutive year, won a see-saw first set that saw each team piece together impressive scoring runs. The Lady Govs built a six-point, 14-8, lead with a 8-2 run but could not hold on.
The Eagles slowly but surely reeled the momentum back into their favor, finally tying the set at 22-22. A pair of Austin Peay attack errors – they committed five in the set – handed the opener to MSU, 25-23.
Austin Peay now prepares for a 2:00pm, Saturday, November 27th contest at Louisville. The Cardinals advanced to the Big East Tournament Championship match for the sixth consecutive season with a four-set victory against Marquette, Saturday.
