CLARKSVILLE - Austin Peay State University's volleyball team led 2-1 and was a set from snapping its losing streak but fell in five sets to SIU Edwardsville, Saturday, in Ohio Valley Conference action at the Dunn Center.

Austin Peay (2-13, 0-4 OVC) grabbed its 2-1 lead courtesy a dominating third set performance. The Lady Govs opened the set with six kills and a service ace to build an 8-1 lead. Austin Peay finished the set with 16 kills, including eight by senior outside hitter Ilyanna Hernandez. Meanwhile, the Cougars offense was held to eight kills while posting five attack errors.

SIU Edwardsville (7-9, 2-3 OVC) shook off that third set defeat and grabbed the early advantage in the fourth set. The Cougars built a 12-8 advantage and extended their lead to 17-12 before the Lady Govs mustered a comeback. Austin Peay used a 5-1 run - with kills from four different players - to tie the set at 23-23. But SIU Edwardsville held the Austin Peay charge and got consecutive kills from Julia Whitfield and Lexi Cibulka to win the set, 25-23.

Ultimately, Austin Peay was undone by a multitude of fifth-set errors. The Lady Govs committed seven attack errors - scoring only three kills - and added a service error and a reception error to hand SIU Edwardsville nine of its 15 points. The Cougars needed to post just five kills against four errors to secure the win, 15-10.

Hernandez finished the match with a career-best 25 kills and posted a .262 attack percentage. Junior outside hitter Nikki Doyle added 16 kills and a .239 attack percentage and that duo accounted for 41 of the Lady Govs 63 kills.

Kelsey Augustine scored 18 kills and a .552 attack percentage to lead SIU Edwardsville. She was the only player to reach double-digit kills territory but eight different players recorded a kill in the contest.

Austin Peay, which saw its losing streak reach eight matches, returns to action with a 6 p.m., Friday contest at Jacksonville State.

-AP-