MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Slowly but surely, Austin Peay State University's volleyball team showed improvement on offense and it paid off in the final match of the MT Blue Raider Bash with a four-set victory over East Tennessee, Saturday afternoon at Alumni Memorial Gym.

Austin Peay (2-5) conquered the two things that hampered it in the tournament's first three matches. First, the offense found some rhythm, with double-digit kills in all four sets while running efficiently with a .262 attack percentage.

More importantly, a young Lady Govs squad showed its growing mental fortitude against East Tennessee (3-4). Austin Peay found a way to both hold a late lead and overcome a late deficit. The Lady Govs did the former in a 25-20 first-set win as they held off a late East Tennessee charge that cut into a seven-point advantage. Austin Peay did the latter in the fourth set, scoring the final three points to erase an ETSU set point at 24-23 to win a 26-24 decision.

Junior Nikki Doyle recorded her seventh consecutive double-digit kill performance with a 14-kill performance while adding 12 digs on defense. Freshman Hillary Plybon followed a strong performance in the day's first match with a season-best 13-kill performance against East Tennessee.

"We've continued to get mentally tougher each practice and each match, which is our biggest thing to work on. Physically we're very good, but its all in our head that determines whether we win or lose. We've made some major strides with the mental part of the game - showing a lot of maturity."

Austin Peay returns to action next weekend at the Butler Invitational, opening with a 1:30 p.m., Friday contest against Central Michigan and also will face host Butler and Elon.

-AP-