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HomeSportsAPSU Lady Govs Volleyball slays Southern Miss Golden Eagles

APSU Lady Govs Volleyball slays Southern Miss Golden Eagles

Austin Peay Sports Information

Austin Peay State University Lady Govs - APSUMemphis, TN – Down seven points with the match on the line, Austin Peay State University’s volleyball team put forth a furious rally to score a five-set (23-25, 25-20, 18-25, 30-28, 15-9) victory against Southern Miss in its Tiger Invitational finale at Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

Austin Peay Women's Volleyball. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Women’s Volleyball. (APSU Sports Information)

Austin Peay trailed 2-1 in the match and faced a seven-point, 19-12 deficit in what could have been the decisive fourth set.

However, the Lady Govs scored nine of the next 11 points to tie the set, 21-21. Three of those points came courtesy the Austin Peay block, with sophomore Ashley Slay assisting each time.

Austin Peay got to set point first at 24-23 after freshman Cecily Gable‘s kill. Southern Miss battled back to win the next two points and had match point at 25-24. The Lady Govs would fend off that match point and three more. Austin Peay finally gained control and won the match with three straight points, Slay assisting on another block to tie the set and then adding a kill to give APSU set point.

The Lady Govs won an anticlimactic fifth set in wire-to-wire fashion, scoring seven kills with no errors for a .500 attack percentage.

Southern Miss (12-4) won sets one and three, each time gaining control of each set in its latter stages. In the first, the Golden Eagles had to wrest away a 16-15 APSU lead with three straight points and held on for the win. The third set saw Austin Peay leading 16-14 but USM won the final 11 points to claim a 2-1 set lead they would not hold on to.

Slay finished with a career-high 19 kills while posting a .283 attack percentage. In addition, the tied her career high with eight blocks for the second time this season. Redshirt junior Sammie Ebright returned to the starting lineup and made a splash with a 13-kill, 18-dig performance.

Inside The Box Score

Redshirt junior Sammie Ebright returned to the starting lineup and posted her first double-double this season with a 13-kill, 18-dig performance.

Senior Aubrey Marsellis returned to her regular setting duties for the match and filled in the box score with a four-kill, 47-assist, eight-dig, six-block outing.

Austin Peay defeated a Conference USA foe for the second time this season, adding to its earlier victory against UAB and they finished 2-3 against C-USA opponents.

“We finally played with some fight. We battled for every point. It wasn’t pretty but we were scrappy and played as a team,” state APSU Volleyball head coach Taylor Mott.

Stephany Purdue led Southern miss with a 20-kill, 16-dig performance. Three other Golden Eagles had 10 kills each.

Austin Peay now prepares to open Ohio Valley Conference action with a week off before a 7:00pm, Friday contest at UT Martin.

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