CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ? Austin Peay State University's volleyball team ended an eight-match losing streak by sweeping Ohio Valley Conference foe Eastern Kentucky, 3-0 (30-27, 30-23, 30-13), Saturday afternoon.

Austin Peay improves to 8-18 overall and 3-11 in OVC play while Eastern Kentucky assumes the league cellar, falling to 3-20 overall and 2-11 in conference play.

Eastern Kentucky led 17-14 in the opening game before Austin Peay put together seven consecutive points to grab a 21-17 lead. The Colonels recovered and tied the game, 26-26, with a 7-2 scoring push. However, Austin Peay did not break, getting a kill from senior Dodi Szymska to retake the lead and kills by freshman Maegan Squibb and sophomore Kirstin Distler ended the game, 30-27.

The Lady Govs jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the second game and the Colonels would not recover falling, 30-23. Game three was no different with Austin Peay taking a 13-7 advantage and extending it to 23-9 on the way to a 30-13 victory.

“We talked a lot going into this match about being disciplined and not making errors,” said Lady Govs head coach Jenny Hazelwood. “Eastern (Kentucky) is struggling with some of the same mistakes our team has made lately. I've kept telling our team every game the last couple of weeks that we need to play more consistently. We did that this afternoon. We minimized our errors and we need that to build our confidence back. We did a good job stringing point-after-point together and rallying when we needed a big shot.”

Distler led all hitters with 14 kills while posting a .375 attack percentage. Szymska added 13 kills and freshman Jessica Mollman added 11 kills. The Lady Govs had 49 kills and a season-best .259 attack percentage in the victory.

Amanda Wilson led EKU with 13 kills and Bridget Mustard added 10 kills. The Colonels had 41 kills and a .083 attack percentage. After playing six matches in the last 11 days, Austin Peay will get a six-day break before traveling to Murray State for a 7 p.m., Friday contest.

- AP -