CLARKSVILLE – An early battle for control of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference is on tap when Austin Peay State University's volleyball team hosts Morehead State. The Govs and Eagles, each 4-0 after two league weekends, meet in a 6 p.m., Sunday match before concluding the series with a 2 p.m., Monday affair.  The two-game set will be available on ESPN+ with Ashley Slay Glotta on the play-by-play.

Austin Peay has opened the season with four consecutive sweeps, downing Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State in successive weekends. The Govs have the league's No. 4 and No. 5 hitters in Brooke Moore (4.17 kills per set) and Chloe Stitt (3.92). They pace an offense ranked No. 2 in kills (14.83 per set) and No. 4 in attack percentage (.232) early in the season.

Meanwhile, Morehead State has lost only one set this season en route to its sweeping series from both Eastern Illinois and Murray State. Olivia Lohmeier is pacing all OVC hitters with 4.38 kills per set while McKenzee Wagener is the league's most efficient hitter with a .436 attack percentage through four matches. The Eagles offense is No. 2 in attack percentage (.282) and No. 3 in kills (13.54 per set) this season.

FIRST SWINGS

• Last season, senior outside hitter Brooke Moore, a Preseason All-OVC selection, became the eighth Govs player surpass both 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs during her career. She has recorded double-digit kills in all four matches this season and is fourth among league hitters with 4.17 kills per set.
• Senior outside hitter Chloe Stitt also has posted double-digit kill totals in each of the Govs' first four matches. Her 3.92 kills per set ranks fifth in the OVC, behind Moore.
• Junior outside hitter Aysha Hood has two kills in each of her first four matches, starting three of the four. She had three blocks in the Govs opener against Tennessee Tech and added a fourth block at Tennessee State.
• Junior Karli Graham has notched four kills in each of the first four matches. Her six-block outing in the Monday Tennessee Tech match is one of the seven six-plus block outings in the league this season.
• Austin Peay returned both halves of its starting setter tandem in senior Caroline Waite and sophomore Kelsey Mead. The duo have paced the Govs to a .232 team attack percentage that ranks fourth among league teams. In addition, APSU's 14.00 assists per set leads all league teams – Mead averaging 6.42 per set and Waite 5.50.
• Sophomore right side Tegan Seyring has the OVC's top single-match hitting performance this season. Her .688-attack percentage (12-1-16) at Tennessee State is tops by nearly 70 points. It helped her move to No. 9 on the OVC's attack percentage list this season (.329).
• After three seasons as the Govs understudy, senior Nina Korfhage took over as the lead libero this spring. She notched a career-best 20 digs in the Tennessee State finale. Korfhage is now No. 7 on the OVC's digs list with 4.33 digs per set.
• Joining Graham at middle blocker is freshman Maggie Keenan. She has two blocks in ecah of her last three matches and posted a season-best five kills in the Tennessee State finale.
• Keenan leads a group of five newcomers on Austin Peay's 2020-21 roster. Setter Janvier Buggs, libero Morgan Rutledge and outside hitters Taylor McInerney and Kaylah Jackson were each 2019 signees.
• Adding experience off the bench will be junior middle blocker Claire Darland, who saw action in 13 matches in 2019, and sophomore defensive specialist Erin Eisenhart, who had 111 digs (2.09/set) in 19 matches played.
• Due to COVID-19, APSU saw its 2020 schedule pushed into 2021, along with the bulk of college volleyball. The OVC elected to play a 16-match spring slate with teams playing a two-match series against eight league members at a single site.

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