CLARKSVILLE - Fresh off its victory against the league-leader, Austin Peay State University's volleyball team was unable to maintain its momentum, falling 3-1 (26-28, 19-25, 25-21, 22-25) to Eastern Kentucky, Saturday, in Ohio Valley Conference action at the Dunn Center.

Austin Peay (16-5, 7-3 OVC) battled an inconsistent offense early on and lost the match's first two sets. The Lady Govs committed 10 attack errors in the opening set, but managed to stave off set point five times as they rallied back from a 24-20 deficit to take a 26-25 lead. But Eastern Kentucky blocked consecutive APSU attacks to take a 27-26 lead and then Austin Peay committed another attack error to hand the set to EKU, 28-26.

Eastern Kentucky (8-11, 7-3 OVC) continued to feed off Austin Peay's miscues in the second set. The Lady Govs committed eight attack errors in the set, with two critical errors giving the Colonels a 20-17 lead. An Austin Peay timeout did little to stem the run, Eastern Kentucky scoring three straight kills to take a 23-17 lead en route to the 25-19 set victory.

The Lady Govs offense showed signs of life in the third set, scoring 15 kills and committing only three errors. Austin Peay scored four consecutive points to turn an 11-12 deficit into a 15-12 lead. Sophomore Nikki Doyle had a pair of kills in the short burst and junior Marie Mullins added a service ace, as Austin Peay gained an advantage it would not relinquish.

The fourth set was the most contentious of the match with the two teams exchanging the lead six times and battling through 14 ties. Both offenses had their way throughout, Eastern Kentucky scoring 18 kills and Austin Peay posting 17 kills. The set was not settled until the very end when Eastern Kentucky scored three consecutive points on kills by Lauren Snyder, Robyn Hench and Hannah Groudle, to secure the victory.

"Last night was a really emotional win and we were a little bit drained today," said Lady Govs head coach Haley Janicek. "In times of adversity - playing on back-to-back days and being tired - just being able to push through is something we have to be able to do. We pushed at times today but we just didn't have the consistency we needed."

Sophomore Nikki Doyle led the Lady Govs with 16 kills, but finished with just a .191 attack percentage. Junior Ilyanna Hernandez added 13 kills. Austin Peay recorded 55 kills but committed 23 attack errors, finishing the match with a .188 attack percentage.

Ashley Edmond led Eastern Kentucky with 16 kills and a .371 attack percentage. Snyder added 14 kills. The Colonels finished with just 52 kills, but had 10 blocks and matched the Lady Govs with nine service aces.

Austin Peay returns to action with a 7 p.m., Friday contest at UT Martin.

- AP -