APSU Sports Information
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University’s Volleyball redshirt junior Christina White and senior Ashley Slay combined for 35 kills to lead the Govs in a four-set Ohio Valley Conference victory (16-25, 25-10, 31-29, 25-18) against Eastern Illinois, Saturday afternoon at the Dunn Center.
With the win, Austin Peay (13-2) is out to its best 15-match start in program history. It also was the Govs seventh consecutive victory as they opened OVC play with a 2-0 mark before playing the next four OVC matches on the road.
The Governors then powered their way to a 31-29 overtime win in the third set on the back of 24 kills with White and junior Cecily Gable each providing seven kills. Austin Peay pulled away in the fourth set to claim the win.
White led the Govs with an 18-kill outing, tying her season best, and a .261 attack percentage. Slay chipped in 17 kills and a team-best four blocks while hitting .405. Kaylee Taff and Cecily Gable each added 10 kills as Austin Peay outhit Eastern Illinois 66-48 in kills.
Laurel Bailey had 12 kills to lead Eastern Illinois, Maria Brown finished with 10 kills.
Set by Set
FIRST. The opening set will be one Austin Peay will likely look to forget. After EIU tied the set 13-13, the Governors offense went cold. Austin Peay was charged with seven attack errors (four due to an EIU block) down the stretch as Eastern Illinois closed the frame with a 12-3 run. The late cold stretch saw the Govs limited to nine kills and a minus-.024 attack percentage.
SECOND. Whatever was said between the first and second sets had the desired effort early in the second frame. The Govs won nine straight points, with White and Slay combining four five kills, as they turned a 5-4 deficit into a 14-5 lead. Austin Peay closed with the sets final four points, punctuated by a Ginny Gerig ace to claim the 25-10 wire-to-wire win. The Govs posted 16 kills with just one attack error and a .429 attack percentage in the frame. Slay had five kills on 10 swings without an error while White had five kills on 11 swings without an error.
THIRD. Both the Govs and Cougars threw haymakers in the third set before going to overtime. Austin Peay jumped out to a 7-3 lead only to watch Eastern Illinois respond with a 10-4 run to take a 13-11 lead and force an APSU timeout. The Govs scored seven on the next eight to take an 18-14 lead before EIU came right back with 10 of the next 15 to force the first set point, 24-23. The Cougars had four set-point chances but could not convert before the Govs got back-to-back kills from Brooke Moore and Ashley Slay to take a 29-28 lead. After being denied on its first two set-point chances, White ended the frame with back-to-back kills for the 31-29 win. White had seven kills in the third as did junior Cecily Gable as Austin Peay posted a monstrous 24 kills.
FOURTH. EIU did not allow Austin Peay to run away in the fourth set, keeping the set close after falling behind 4-0. The Govs used a 4-0 run to gain some breathing room, 19-15, before winning the match’s final five points to secure the 25-18 win. Slay posted five kills in the decisive fourth set with White and junior Kaylee Taff each adding four kills in the Govs 17-kill clincher.
Govs Notably
White Continues Tear. White’s 18-kill outing was her third consecutive double-digit kill outing and fourth in her last five matches. She has posted 51 kills (3.92 per set) in her three-match streak, with an impressive .237 attack percentage.
Big Effort on Defense. After a sub-par outing Friday’s five-set win with just 84 digs (16.8 per set) against SIUE, the Governors charged back with 89 digs (22.3 per set) in Saturday’s four-set win against EIU. Senior Allie O’Reilly led the way with 21 digs but had plenty of help with sophomore Ginny Gerig (16), freshman Brooke Moore (15), junior Kristen Stucker (15) and White (12) also reaching double digits in digs.
Up Next for APSU Volleyball
Austin Peay begins a four-match road trip with a 6:00pm, Tuesday nonconference tilt at Alabama A&M.
