The MVC Tournament is right around the corner, taking place from Nov. 20-23, with the Racers currently sitting in seventh place in the conference. 

Murray State is 8-10 against conference opponents and has an overall record of 12-16 on the season. Despite the losing record, the Racers have plenty of positives to take into account as they near tournament time. 

Freshman outside hitter Federica Nuccio leads her team in points with 379 this season. She has the 11th most amount of points in the MVC. 338 of those points came from kills, the eleventh most in the MVC. Junior libero Dahlia Miller has 464 digs this season, the sixth most in the MVC. 

Sophomore setter Bailey DeMier leads the Racers in service aces with 39, tied for the fifth most in the MVC. DeMier also leads the Racers in assists with 1008, the seventh most assists in the MVC this season.

Murray State has out-killed its opponents 1,447-1,361 this season. The Racers also have more assists than their opponents this year, out-assisting the opposition 1,334-1,239.

One obstacle for Murray State this season has been errors. They have committed 159 more errors than their opponents—684–525. If the Racers are able to clean their game up a bit and turn those possessions into points, they could find themselves on a run in the MVC Tournament this year.

As things stand now, the Racers will be competing against the sixth seed in the tournament, the Valparaiso Beacons. The Racers have played the Beacons twice this year. 

Valparaiso took the first matchup, winning it 3-0. The Racers won the second time around in the fifth set 3-2. With the series record split at one apiece, both teams will look to earn bragging rights over the other, but more importantly, the winner moves onto the next round.

The winner of the sixth seed vs. seventh seed match will advance to compete against the third seed, UIC. Murray State has played UIC twice this season, losing both matchups 3-0. If the Racers are able to advance to the second round, this will be a tough battle. 

Whoever wins in the second round goes on to the semifinals to go head-to-head with the second seed, Drake University. Murray State has played Drake once this season, losing the matchup 3-0.

The winner of this game will go onto the championship match to compete against the first, fourth, fifth or eighth seed. As things stand, UNI is the first seed, Evansville is the fourth seed, SIU is the fifth seed and Missouri State is the eighth seed. 

The Racers will travel to Evansville, Indiana to compete against the Valparaiso Beacons at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 20 in the Meeks Family Fieldhouse.

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