CLARKSVILLE - Junior Jessica Mollman recorded a season-high 15 kills, leading Austin Peay State University's volleyball team to a 3-1 (25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 25-21) victory, Friday, against host East Tennessee in the Buccaneer Classic at Brooks Gymnasium.

Austin Peay (7-1) got all the fight it wanted from East Tennessee (4-4) throughout the match, beginning with the opening set. The two squads battled through eight ties and four lead changes, the last coming at 16-16. The Lady Govs broke the set open with a 7-1 run, sparked by three kills by Mollman, to take a 23-17 lead which turned into a 25-20 victory.

The Lady Govs grabbed control of the second set a little earlier, using a 7-2 burst - aided by five Buccaneer errors - to take a 14-9 lead. East Tennessee would close to within one point, 21-20, but could not force another tie as the two teams traded points the rest of way en route to the 25-23 set victory.

The third set was an offensive display by both teams, but East Tennessee led wire-to-wire using 15 kills and a .375 attack percentage to swamp the Austin Peay defense. The Lady Govs recorded 13 kills and a .355 attack percentage, but could not keep pace.

But Austin Peay's defense got its revenge in the fourth set forcing East Tennessee to commit nine attack errors against 11 kills. Despite the miscues, Austin Peay needed a 9-3 run to turn an 8-8 tie into a 17-13 lead. The Lady Govs would fend off a pair of late Buccaneer charges before securing the match with a 25-20 set victory.  

Mollman led all hitters with her 15-kill outing and also committed just two errors to record a .440 attack percentage. Juniors Ilyanna Hernandez and Kayla Grantham added 11 and 10 kills each to the offensive effort.

"Jessica did some really good things for us today," said Lady Govs head coach Haley Janicek. "Kayla also had a good match and they both really led us tonight. We played good defense and served aggressively, but had a few too many service errors tonight that kept [East Tennessee] in the match."

Erin Ryan led East Tennessee with 14 kills and Megan Devine chipped in 10 kills.

Austin Peay continues action at the Buccaneer Classic with a 9 a.m. (CT), Saturday contest against UNC Asheville followed by a 3:30 p.m. affair against UNC Greensboro.

- AP -