THE LEAD
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Austin Peay State University's volleyball team got off to a slow start, but fought throughout in a three-set season-opening loss (27-17, 25-16, 25-23) to Ohio, Friday afternoon at Holloway Gymnasium.

WHO GOVERNED
Sophomore Ashley Slay led Austin Peay with seven kills, two service aces and a block. She wrapped the match with three kills in the final set.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After senior setter Aubrey Marsellis opened the match with a service ace, Austin Peay fell into a 6-1 hole and could not recover in the opening set.
• Austin Peay led midway through the second set, 11-10, after a Slay kill. The Lady Govs didn't trail by more than three points in the set until a seven-point Ohio run broke things open.
• The Lady Govs led 16-15 in the third set after freshman outside hitter Kaylee Taft's kill. But Ohio pieced together four straight points late then held on for the win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• It is the third straight year Austin Peay has opened the season with a loss and it is now 1-3 in season openers under head coach Taylor Mott.
• It was a balanced offensive effort by the Lady Govs with four Lady Govs finishing with six kills each.

THE QUOTABLE TAYLOR MOTT
"We played really hard and did some really good things. But we struggled in serve receive and that made it difficult to side out. Overall I was very pleased with the hustle and effort we gave for most of the match."

THE FULL RECAP
As far as starts go, Austin Peay (0-1) couldn't have asked for better when senior setter Aubrey Marsellis served up an ace on the opening point. However, Ohio responded with the next six points to force an Austin Peay timeout trailing 6-1.

The Lady Govs timeout couldn't stem the Bobcats momentum and trailed 15-4 before piecing together its own four-point burst. Austin Peay would later added a pair of three-point runs, but ultimately fell 25-17 in the opening set.

Ohio (1-0) threatened to run away in the second set, opening up an 8-3 lead. Austin Peay would fight back to take an 11-10 lead thanks to back-to-back points from Ashley Slay, one on a service ace and then a kill. Ohio kept the APSU lead from growing larger and responded with its own 6-1 run to build a 16-12 lead.

Austin Peay would get back within a point, 16-15, as senior outside hitter Sammie Ebright posted a kill and then added a block assist on back-to-back points. Yet that was as close as they would get as Ohio used a 7-0 run to break the set open en route to the 25-16 victory.

The third set was a near duplicate of the second, Ohio raced out to a 6-2 lead only to watch as Austin Peay battled back to take a 16-15 lead thanks to freshman outside hitter Kaylee Taft's kill. Ohio stopped the run with four straight points to force an Austin Peay timeout at 19-16.

That timeout did the job as Ebright and Taft teamed up for a block on the next point to start a 3-0 APSU run to tie the set, 19-19. However, Austin Peay could not retake the lead as Ohio scored the match's next three points. A last Lady Govs run closed the gap back to one point, 24-23, and forced an Ohio timeout, but Bobcats outside hitter Jaime Kosiorek posted a kill on the ensuing rally to end the match.

Austin Peay finished with just 30 kills in the three-set affair, posting a .032 attack percentage. Slay led the effort with seven kills while Ebright, senior outside hitter Samantha Strother and freshman outside hitter Cecily Gable each had six kills.

Ohio scored 39 kills in the victory but was held to a .190 attack percentage. Kosiorek led the Bobcats offense with 14 kills and a .191 attack percentage.

Austin Peay continues play at the Mortar Board Premier with a 10 a.m. (CDT), Saturday contest against host Purdue.