NASHVILLE - Austin Peay State University's volleyball team had to win the match's final three sets to pull off a come-from-behind 3-2 (23-25, 22-25, 25-14, 25-21, 15-7) victory against Tennessee State in Ohio Valley Conference action, Friday night, at  Kean Hall.

Austin Peay (15-4, 6-2 OVC) lost the first two sets of a match for only the second time this season as the offense continued to battle through its recent woes. The Lady Govs committed nine attack errors in the first set and six in the second frame and hit below .200 in both sets.

Tennessee State (5-11, 3-5 OVC) wasn't having much more success offensively, racking up eight errors in the opening set and four more in the second set. However, the Lady Tigers used an aggressive service game to win the opening sets narrowly, using four service aces in the first set and five more in the second set.

The Lady Govs offense finally hit its stride in the third set, posting an errorless 14-kill effort to score a dominating 25-14 set victory. Junior Ilyanna Hernandez led the effort with six kills and a .429 attack percentage in the set.

Hernandez proved key in Austin Peay's fourth-set victory, scoring the first two kills of a set-ending 4-0 run that captured a 25-21 victory.

Sophomore Nikki Doyle had a relatively quiet night, but made an impact in the final set. She posted three kills in the Lady Govs 7-0 run that turned a 4-3 deficit into a 10-4 lead from which they would not look back, posting a match-winning 15-7 set win.

"Tonight we played like a veteran team," said Lady Govs head coach Haley Janicek. "It takes a lot of mental toughness to come back after being down 2-0 and everyone had a large part in that - even the bench."

Hernandez finished with a career-high 21 kills and was charged with five attack errors to record a .320 attack percentage. Doyle added 18 kills and a .164 attack percentage. Freshman Lauren Henderson came off the bench and finished with six kills and six blocks in the final three sets.

"Ilyanna really pulled the team together tonight," said Janicek. "We needed her and she played with a lot of heart. I couldn't have asked more from Lauren tonight, she really pulled through four us."

Kamille King led Tennessee State with 16 kills. Daniell Howell added 10 kills, committed one attack error and finished the night with a .409 attack percentage.

Austin Peay will get a seven-day break before hosting league-leading Morehead State in a 6 p.m., Friday contest at the Dunn Center.

- AP -