EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Sophomore Brooke Moore finished with a match-high 15 kills, pacing Austin Peay State University's volleyball team to a three-set sweep (25-23, 25-21, 25-14) of SIUE, Friday night, at the Vadalabene Center.
With the win, Austin Peay (24-4, 13-2 OVC) clinched at least a share of the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference volleyball championship with one regular-season match remaining. It is the Governors first-ever back-to-back regular-season OVC volleyball titles.
Moore set the tone in the opening set, posting eight kills on 10 attack attempts to lead Austin Peay to a near wire-to-wire win. When Moore struggled in the second set, the rest of the Govs rallied with junior Jenna Panning and seniors Cecily Gable and Kaylee Taff each posting four kills each in another wire-to-wire win. Austin Peay saved its best for last with a 17-kill performance, led by Moore's six kills, in a final wire-to-wire win in the third.
SIUE (9-18, 8-7 OVC) would push Austin Peay to the limit in each of the first two sets. The Cougars nearly erased a nine-point deficit in the first set, storming back to within a point at 24-23 before APSU could secure the win. In the second, an early seven-point Govs lead was erased as the Cougars tied the set at 14-14 but the Govs scored the next four points and did not look back the rest of the match.
Moore's 15-kill outing saw her post a .458 attack percentage and add 11 digs for her 15th double-double this season. Kaylee Taff also had an impressive outing with 10 kills and a .667 attack percentage.
SIUE was held to 35 kills in the sweep, Hope Everett leading the effort with eight kills and a .438 attack percentage.
Austin Peay will look to clinch the outright OVC title with a 6 p.m., Saturday contest at Eastern Illinois that will be the final match of the OVC regular-season race.
GOVS, NOTABLY
ADDING TO THE TROPHY CASE. Austin Peay won its fourth OVC regular-season title, joining the 1992 and 2017 Governors squads. It is the sixth OVC trophy for the case, including OVC tournament titles in 1991, 2010 and 2017. And we would be remiss if we didn't mention the 1987 Governors, who won the South Division title that season.
HOST SCENARIO. Austin Peay will have a very good idea of what it has to accomplish to clinch the title outright by the time it takes the court at Eastern Illinois. No matter what, the Governors enter their final match in complete control of their own destiny as a win would ensure the title outright..
GABLE, TAFF REACH CENTURY POSTS. Kaylee Taff's 10-kill outing at SIUE put right at 700 career kills. Meanwhile, senior Cecily Gable's eight-kill performance pushed her past the 900-career kill milepost. Gable finished the night with 905 career kills.
TOP 10 GERIG. With her dozen digs on the night, junior Ginny Gerig broke into the Governors Top 10 in career digs, finishing the night ranked ninth all time with 1,383 digs.
