Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - Austin Peay State University's
volleyball team saw its offense evaporate in the final two sets of a four-set
Ohio Valley Conference loss (23-25, 29-27, 12-25, 26-28) to Jacksonville State,
Friday night, at Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Austin Peay (2-14, 0-5 OVC) lost its ninth-straight outing
while being held below a .200 attack percentage for the fourth consecutive
match.
In the first two sets the Lady Govs seemed to have snapped
their recent offensive woes. They scored 12 kills and a .300 attack percentage
in the opening set, pushing homestanding Jacksonville State all the way to the
end before falling, 25-23.
The second set saw Austin Peay post its best offensive
outing of the night with 17 kills in the set and a .217 attack percentage. The
Lady Govs even rallied from a 24-20 deficit to force overtime with four straight
points. In the extra time, the team's traded points before junior Nikki Doyle
scored a service ace to give APSU its firs tset point which it immediately
capitalized on with sophomore Lauren Henderson's kill.
But after the break Austin Peay's offense disappeared,
posting just four kills and committing five attack errors (-.034 attack
percentage). Jacksonville State scored 15 kills in a 25-12 third-set romp.
Austin Peay continued to have offensive troubles in the
fourth set. It was able to find more kills, posting 15 in the set, but also saw
its error total increase to a match-worst nine. Despite the woes, the Lady Govs
rallied from a 21-18 deficit - thanks to three consecutive kills by senior
Ilyanna Hernandez - to tie the set. Austin Peay had set point at 25-24 but
could not win the point. After the teams traded attack errors, Jacksonville
State got consecutive kills to win the match, 28-26.
Doyle led Austin Peay with 13 kills and a .225 attack
percentage. Freshman middle blocker Hillary Plybon added 12 kills and Hernandez
ended the night with 10 kills. Junior middle blocker had eight kills and a
team-best six blocks.
Stephanie Koontz led Jacksonville State with a match-best 16
kills while added two service aces and four blocks.
Austin Peay continues its weekend road trip with a 2 p.m.,
Saturday contest at Tennessee Tech.
-AP-