CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ? It was a battle that saw 30 ties and 14 lead changes but Austin Peay State University's volleyball team posted its fourth consecutive sweep victory with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 26-24) decision against Eastern Kentucky, Friday night, in Ohio Valley Conference action at the Dunn Center.

Austin Peay improved to 15-6 overall and 7-2 in conference play, gaining a share of second place with idle Tennessee Tech. Eastern Kentucky falls to 3-16 overall and 2-7 in league action.

The Lady Govs trailed in each of the match's three sets. In the first set, they trailed 21-19 before getting a little help from consecutive EKU attack errors to take a 22-21 advantage. Sophomore Taylor Skinner added a pair of kills and junior transfer Stephanie Champine finished the set off with another kill for the 25-23 victory.

Austin Peay led 22-18 in the second set only to watch Eastern Kentucky rally to tie the set at 22-22. Skinner again posted a kill to stop the rally and EKU committed back-to-back errors to hand APSU a 25-22 victory.

Eastern Kentucky had the Lady Govs on the ropes in the third set, getting to match point first at 24-23. But the Lady Govs net defense showed up big with back-to-back blocks to take a 25-24 advantage and a third consecutive EKU attack error ended the match.

“I am very happy we came away with a win tonight,” said Lady Govs head coach Jenny Hazelwood. “We warned our team all week Eastern Kentucky would come ready to play tonight and to their credit they played hard and played very well defensively. I am proud of the fact we never let any set get out of hand. When it seemed like it would get away from us we focused enough to rebound and pull it out, which showed a lot about our mental toughness and maturity, being a young team.”

Champine led the Lady Govs with 14 kills while junior Kirstin Distler and sophomore Jessica Mollman each added 11 kills. Skinner finished with seven kills and five blocks. Austin Peay won the offensive battle with a 51-46 edge in kills and a .242-.172 advantage in attack percentage.

Eastern Kentucky junior Lindsey Loescher led all hitters with 19 kills, the only EKU player to reach double-digit kill territory.

Austin Peay returns to action with a pivotal 2 p.m., Saturday, contest against league-leader Morehead State. The Eagles remained unbeaten (9-0) in conference play after downing Tennessee State in four sets, Friday.