CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ? Home was sweet as could be as Austin Peay State University's volleyball team posted a 3-1 (30-26, 17-30, 30-25, 30-28) Ohio Valley Conference victory against Tennessee-Martin, Friday night at the Dunn Center. It was the Lady Govs first home match this season and followed a 16-match road trip.
The match opened with the two teams battling through 12 ties and four lead changes. APSU sophomore Kirstin Distler broke a 21-21 tie, the game's final tie, with a kill. Following a Maegan Squibb kill, Distler gave the Lady Govs a three-point cushion with another kills which also forced a UT Martin timeout. The two teams traded points until freshman Sarah Alisaleh put the game away for good with a service ace which gave APSU a 29-25 lead.
Tennessee-Martin (7-9, 1-5 OVC) opened the match's second game with four consecutive points. However, it was their 15-2 scoring run at game's end that proved to be the difference maker in a 30-17 victory. Austin Peay didn't help its cause in that final stretch with five attack errors, including hitting into four blocks.
After the break, Austin Peay (7-10, 2-3 OVC) used a 12-2 run to build a 20-10 lead. Alisaleh proved the difference-maker in that game-breaking run, with two service aces and a kill. The Skyhawks closed the gap to four points, 29-25, but could not get closer as senior Dodi Szymska closed the door with a kill.
The fourth game saw Austin Peay take a 13-9 lead only to commit four errors as part seven consecutive UTM points which gave the visitors a 16-13 lead. The Skyhawks would maintain that advantage and would even see it reach four points, 24-20, to force a Lady Govs timeout. After the timeout, APSU rattled off four consecutive kills ? the first by Szymska, the next by freshman Jessica Mollman which was followed by a pair of Distler shots ? to tie the game. The game would see-saw through five ties down the stretch before consecutive kills by Szymska and Mollman ended the match.
Szymska led all hitters with 18 kills and Distler ? her fellow outside hitter ? added another 17 kills. However, it was the play of freshman middle hitters Squibb and Mollman that most impressed head coach Jenny Hazelwood as they posted nine and 14 kills, respectively. Austin Peay won the offensive battle with a 69-64 edge in kills and an 8-4 advantage in service aces, including five aces by Alisaleh.
“Both Jessica and Maegan did their part and we needed that tonight,” said Hazelwood. “Lately we've going to our outsides a lot and that's become a big part of our game but we needed our middles to step up tonight because Martin is a very good blocking team. We needed [our middles] to play like they've been around for a while and they did a good job tonight.”
Kathryn Sprague led UT Martin with 16 kills and Taylor Noland and Lauren Montague each added 12 kills. The Skyhawks were unable to capitalize on a superior defensive effort which saw them post a 82-73 lead in digs and an impressive 24-3 margin in blocks. Sprague led UTM's front-row defense with 11 blocks and Dimphy Sasse added nine blocks.
Austin Peay continues its five-match homestand with a 2 p.m., Saturday contest, against Murray State.
NOTES: Austin Peay opened the 2007 campaign August 24 and went the season's first 34 days without a home match... Only one other Division I team entered the weekend without a home match under its belt ? Cal State Northridge, which also opened its home schedule, Friday, with a match against UC Irvine... It is not the latest calendar date for a home opener in school history, the 1985 home slate did not start until Oct. 24 (but the season started Sept. 16)... Austin Peay has won eight of its last 10 home openers and is 18-10 all-time.
