Clarksville, TN – The Austin Peay State University (APSU) volleyball team defeated reigning Ohio Valley Conference champion Morehead State in a thrilling five-set victory (25-19, 25-23, 21-25, 25-27, 15-8) at the Winfield Dunn Center, Friday night.
Austin Peay State University did not trail in the first set and used an aggressive offensive and defensive performance to take a commanding 25-19 victory. In the icebreaking set, the Govs posted a .536 hitting percentage and held the visiting Eagles to a .355 mark.
Riding the momentum of their first set win in front of the Austin Peay State University faithful this season, the Govs extended their lead with a 25-23 victory.
However, the reigning champions rallied, forcing a fifth set behind 25-21 and 27-25 wins in sets three and four, respectively.
Brooke Moore’s 12th and 13th kills of the night gave the APSU Govs a 7-4 lead in the decisive set and forced MSU to take its first timeout. A Mikayla Powell kill put the game at match-point and an error by the Eagles handed the Govs their first conference win.
In the third set, Moore recorded her 11th of 20 digs of the afternoon, moving her past APSU alumna Sarah Schramka (2001-04) and tying her with Kirstin Distler (2006-09) for 11th all-time. Moore also recorded 14 kills against the Eagles, making it the seventh time the fifth-year senior has recorded a double-double this season.
Junior right-side hitter Mikayla Powell led APSU with 15 kills – including four in the final set – in her third double-digit kill performance of the season. Sophomore Maggie Keenan and freshman Jaida Clark rounded out the Govs who surpassed the decade-mark in kills, with 10 and 13, respectively.
Kelsey Mead posted third 30-plus assist match of the season with 37 dishes. It is the most the junior setter has tallied since a 41-assist outing against the UT Martin Skyhawks on November 8th, 2019. The Tallahassee, Florida native also recorded her sixth career double-double with 12 digs.
The win marks the first time since September 29th, 2018 that the Govs have defeated the Eagles.
Austin Peay Set-by-Set Recap vs. Morehead State
APSU fired on all cylinders offensively in the first set, posting a .571 kill percentage. They took the early 1-0 match lead with a 25-19 victory behind Brooke Moore and Mikayla Powell’s four kills.
After Morehead State took the second set’s first point, the Govs regained the lead and did not look back. The Eagles still made it interesting, however, rallying late in the set with four-straight points to force an APSU timeout with a 21-20 lead, but the Govs extended their lead with a 25-23 victory.
Both teams struggled offensively in the third set, each posting sub-.170 hitting percentages, but the Eagles took the set, 25-21, after a 4-1 run to end the set to extend the match.
In a back-and-forth fourth set that saw the score knotted up 11 times, Morehead State evened the score with a 27-25 overtime victory.
Regaining the momentum from their first two set victories, Mikayla Powell and Brooke Moore paced the Govs with seven kills combined in the final frame, as Austin Peay picked up the five-set victory in its home and conference-opening performance.
Coach’s Corner
Austin Peay head coach Taylor Mott
On coming away with the win
“We almost shocked ourselves with how well we were playing. I could not have asked for anything better than to win the first two sets and then find a way to rally in the fifth set. I am proud of the team because that is not easy to do.”
On the team’s performance in the fifth set
“They just had to remember what got us the first two wins—they were because we were playing aggressive, loose, and free but as the third and fourth set went along, we started to get uptight, our passing struggled a little bit. I just told them to get back to what got us here. We did a couple of good things to start out within the fifth, and then just let the momentum take us from there.”
Next Up For APSU Volleyball
The Austin Peay State University women’s volleyball team will play the back half of its two-game series against the Eagles at 2:00pm on Saturday at the Winfield Dunn Center.
Box Score
Morehead 2, Austin Peay 3
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | F | |
| Morehead | 19 | 23 | 25 | 27 | 8 | 2 |
| Austin Peay | 25 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
Stats
Morehead State
| S | # | PLAYER | K | E | TA | HIT% | AS | SA | DG | BL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| * | 1 | LOHMEIER, OLIVIA | 25 | 9 | 75 | .213 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| * | 12 | HULSMAN, ABBY | 12 | 9 | 38 | .079 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| * | 22 | SWEARINGEN, MIA | 12 | 4 | 24 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 18 | WAGENER, MCKENZEE | 8 | 5 | 17 | .176 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | |
| * | 16 | WOGENSTAHL, IRENE | 6 | 2 | 13 | .308 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 10 | WHITTEN, ALLISON | 3 | 1 | 4 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | |
| 14 | BESSLER, BRIDGET | 1 | 0 | 5 | .200 | 35 | 1 | 11 | 0 | |
| 6 | ALEXANDER, RAEGAN | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | HODGES, TAYLOR | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| * | 11 | BOMMER, BRENNA | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 17 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| * | 15 | MONTELISCIANI, OLIV | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 17 | GRIMES, ANDREA | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| MATCH | 67 | 30 | 178 | .208 | 55 | 3 | 81 | 5.0 | ||
| CURRENT SET | 6 | 4 | 21 | .095 | 0 | 1 |
Austin Peay
| S | # | PLAYER | K | E | TA | HIT% | AS | SA | DG | BL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| * | 26 | POWELL, MIKAYLA | 15 | 2 | 36 | .361 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| * | 3 | MOORE, BROOKE | 14 | 5 | 51 | .176 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| * | 10 | CLARK, JAIDA | 13 | 6 | 24 | .292 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| * | 7 | KEENAN, MAGGIE | 10 | 0 | 16 | .625 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| * | 13 | JACKSON, KAYLAH | 9 | 4 | 24 | .208 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1 | HOOD, AYSHA | 2 | 3 | 19 | -.053 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| 5 | LARY, JESSICA | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 0 | |
| 18 | WAITE, CAROLINE | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 15 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| * | 20 | MEAD, KELSEY | 0 | 2 | 4 | -.500 | 37 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| 35 | EISENHART, ERIN | 0 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 0 | |
| MATCH | 63 | 22 | 181 | .227 | 55 | 3 | 73 | 14.0 | ||
| CURRENT SET | 10 | 2 | 26 | .308 | 0 | 4 |
