CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ? Austin Peay State University's volleyball team handed Morehead State its season's first Ohio Valley Conference loss, posting a 3-2 (25-22, 28-26, 18-25, 24-26, 15-12) victory, Saturday afternoon, at the Dunn Center.

It was Austin Peay's fifth-straight victory as they improved to 16-6 overall and 8-2 in league play. Morehead State saw its 10-match overall win streak stopped, losing for the first time since Sept. 13, and fell to 18-3 overall and 9-1 in conference action.

Behind the emotions of Parents Day, the Lady Govs raced out to a 16-8 lead in the opening set. But Morehead State roared back with a 9-1 scoring run to tie the set, 17-17. Later, sophomore Jessica Mollman would give APSU a 22-20 advantage with back-to-back kills, forcing a MSU timeout. Sophomore Taylor Skinner would get the Lady Govs to set point with a kill and an Eagle attack error would give APSU the set, 25-22.

Morehead State held the advantage in the second set, leading by five points, 17-12, just past the set's midpoint. Austin Peay rallied to tie the game at 20-20 and the two teams traded ties into overtime. Junior transfer Stephanie Champine would give the Lady Govs their third set point and again an Eagle attack error on the ensuing set point proved the difference in a 28-26 set win.

Austin Peay came back from halftime and failed to find its spark committing six attack errors en route to falling behind 12-3. Later they would narrow the deficit to five points, 19-14, with a 7-3 scoring run, but ultimately could not overcome the slow start, losing the set, 25-18.

“After the third set we talked about how teams aren't going to roll over when they get down in our conference,” said Lady Govs head coach Jenny Hazelwood. “Morehead State is the league leader because they battle the entire time they're on the court. We came out after the break not focused on what we needed to accomplish and the set got away from us. I am proud that we recovered enough to win the match, but we're still a young team that's learning every time we're on the court.”

The fourth set was a neck-and-neck race with Austin Peay's four-point advantage at 14-10 the set's largest margin as the teams traded the lead three times and the score was tied nine times. A Morehead State bad set allowed the Lady Govs to tie the game, 24-24, but MSU's momentum was unabated as they got consecutive kills from Kaitlin Craven and Katelyn Barbour to take the fourth set, 26-24.

Austin Peay and, in particular, Mollman came out on a mission in the decisive fifth set. Mollman posted six kills on seven attacks in the set. Her first two kills came back-to-back to give Austin Peay a 6-3 advantage. She struck again with consecutive kills to push the lead to 9-5. Mollman's sixth kill gave Austin Peay its first match-point opportunity, but they would need a MSU service error to win the match with a 15-12 set victory.

Junior Kirstin Distler led all hitters with a career-high tying 19 kills and posted a .372 attack percentage. Mollman finished with 17 kills and a .316 attack percentage. Champine added 16 kills and sophomore Taylor Skinner chipped in 12 kills. Freshman Ilyanna Hernandez was an unsung contributor off the bench, adding a season-best seven kills. Austin Peay won the offensive battle with a 74-69 advantage in kills, but it was the only category it would win on the afternoon.

“I was proud of the way our team picked each other up,” said Hazelwood. “[Kayla Grantham] had an off night, which is going to happen, but Ilyanna came off the bench and played like we know she is capable ? as did everyone we brought off the bench ? and it proved to be a key to our win today. We're going to need everyone to contribute if we're going to continue to be successful.”

Holly Evans led Morehead State with 18 kills and a .405 attack percentage. Kaitlin Craven added 17 kills while Ashley Doscher and Erin Peak each chipped in 10 kills. The Eagles posted an impressive 17-8 edge in blocks, including Emma Keough's 12-block effort.

Austin Peay returns to action with a 7 p.m., Friday, contest against Jacksonville State.