MARTIN, Tenn. - Just hours removed from a disappointing
road loss, Austin Peay State University's volleyball team rebounded with a 3-1
(25-17, 23-25, 25-16, 25-23) Ohio Valley Conference victory against Tennessee-Martin,
Saturday afternoon at Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
Austin Peay (14-6, 8-2 OVC) took command right off the bat,
scoring five straight points in the opening set and led wire-to-wire in a 25-17
victory.
However, some of the offensive inconsistency the Lady Govs
showed in Friday's loss at Murray State made an appearance. Austin Peay
committed nine errors in the set, including three attack errors in the final
four points to hand Tennessee Martin a 25-23 victory.
The Lady Govs came back from the break and asserted
themselves again, leading nearly wire-to-wire again. The Skyhawks tied the
game, 2-2, but watched APSU piece together runs of 10-5 and 9-5 to build a
21-12 lead they would not relinquish, winning 25-16.
Tennessee-Martin (7-14, 2-9 OVC) put together an
impressive offensive performance in the fourth set, recording 20 kills in the
set. However, the Skyhawks also committed eight attack errors, including two in the final three points as Austin Peay
held off a late charge to win 25-23.
Senior outside hitter Stephanie Champine led Austin Peay
with 18 kills on 63 attempts to finish with a .159 attack percentage. Junior
middle blocker Jessica Mollman added 12 kills and a .360 attack percentage.
Junior setter Sarah Alisaleh added seven kills and two service aces along with
52 assists and 12 digs.
Austin Peay won the offensive battle out hitting
Tennessee-Martin, 64-50, and posting a .251 to .168 attack percentage edge.
Defensively, the Lady Govs won one-half of the battle, with a 96-83 edge in
digs, but narrowly lost the front-row battle, on a 9-7 deficit in blocks.
Kelly Hogan led Tennessee-Martin with 14 kills. Brittany
Wilburn added eight kills, a .304 attack percentage and nine blocks.
Austin Peay closes out its four-game road trip with a 7
p.m., Tuesday, non-conference contest at SIU Edwardsville.
- AP -
