Beach Volleyball | April 21, 2022
CLARKSVILLE – The Ohio Valley Conference's beach volleyball regular-season title is on the line when Austin Peay State University hosts the OVC Weekend at APSU, Friday and Saturday, at the Govs Beach Volleyball Complex.
Austin Peay (15-9, 3-1 OVC) opens the weekend with a 10:30 a.m., Friday match against UT Martin (12-6, 4-0 OVC) before playing a 2:30 p.m. match against Chattanooga (13-11, 2-2 OVC). The Governors wrap up the regular season, Saturday, with a 12:30 p.m. match against Morehead State (7-7, 1-3 OVC) and a 4:30 p.m. match against Eastern Illinois (0-9, 0-4 OVC).
Austin Peay Athletics invites all students to attend Saturday's beach volleyball matches, where they can enter to win a Govs Prize Pack that includes a mystery gift card. Students should come to the marketing table at the end of the beach volleyball courts closest to the Winfield Dunn Center, where they can enter for the drawing which will be done Monday. To double your chances to win the prize pack and mystery gift card, students can make their way to Friday's home tennis matches to enter a second drawing.
The Governors open the weekend against league-leading UT Martin in a match that has significant implications for the regular-season championship. If Austin Peay beats UT Martin and then both teams win out, they will share the regular-season title and the first tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed will be determined by the head-to-head pairs record in two matches between the Govs and Skyhawks.
If the Governors beat UT Martin and then win out the rest of the weekend and the Skyhawks drop one of their final four matches, Austin Peay would claim the regular-season championship outright.
In three matches against UT Martin this season, the Govs are 2-1 with the one loss coming in conference action. The Skyhawks enter the weekend after dropping their last match to Austin Peay, 3-2, at the Govs Beach Bash last Saturday. After losing four-straight matches – including one to the Govs – at the GSU Diggin' Duels, Chattanooga enters the weekend on a two-match winning streak after beating Jacksonville State twice in midweek action.
Morehead State has won four of its last five matches and is on a two-match winning streak after posting a pair of 5-0 wins against Louisville last Friday. In its first-ever season of beach volleyball, Eastern Illinois enters the weekend still searching for the program's first win.
Austin Peay has been led by Marlayna Bullington and Kelsey Mead, with the duo posting a team-leading 17-7 record with 16 of those wins coming from the No. 1 position. The duo has won eight of their last 10 matches and enters the weekend on a team-best three-match winning streak.
Brooke Moore and Mikayla Powell also enter the weekend on a three-match winning streak and have won seven times in their last 10 outings. The tandem is 16-7 this season with all of their wins coming on the No. 2 line. Demi McInnis and Tegan Seyring have manned the No. 3 position for the Govs and have an 11-9 mark this season.
Caroline Waite and Janvier Buggs have taken control of the No. 4 position, where they have appeared in nine-straight matches. The Waite-Buggs pairing is 11-6 this season with six wins on the No. 4 line and five wins on the No. 5 line. Karli Graham and Elizabeth Wheat have made six-straight appearances on the No. 5 line for the Governors, where they have played to a 4-6 record this season. The tandem of Maggie Keenan and Morgan Rutledge have also posted a 3-1 mark on the No. 5 line this season.
After wrapping up the regular season, the Governors travel to the OVC Beach Volleyball Championship, April 28-30, hosted by Morehead State at the Fazoli's Breadstick Beach in Morehead, Kentucky. For news and updates on everything Governors beach volleyball, follow along on Twitter and Instagram or check back at LetsGoPeay.com.
OVC Weekend at Austin Peay Schedule
Friday, April 22
8:30 AM – Chattanooga vs. Eastern Illinois
10:30 AM – Austin Peay vs. UT Martin
12:30 PM – Morehead State vs. Eastern Illinois
2:30 PM – Austin Peay vs. Chattanooga
4:30 PM – Morehead State vs. UT Martin
Saturday, April 23
8:30 AM – Chattanooga vs. Morehead State
10:30 AM – UT Martin vs. Eastern Illinois
12:30 PM – Austin Peay vs. Morehead State
2:30 PM – Chattanooga vs. UT Martin
4:30 PM – Austin Peay vs. Eastern Illinois
