The Racers will look to bounce back with a better year in the 2024 season. 2023 was just a touch below average for the volleyball team as they finished one game below .500 overall and 7-11 in conference play.
This Racer team has a good amount of upperclassmen that will look to guide them through the team’s third season in the Missouri Valley Conference. The team had players all across the top five of multiple stat categories last season, like senior libero Dahlia Miller, who averaged the second most digs in the conference with 5.56, and junior setter Bailey DeMier, who led the MVC in assists per set with 10.98 and had the fifth most service aces with 51.
The Racers showed that they have formidable attacking play all year long, averaging more kills and assists than their opponents all of last season. The team was top five in the MVC in average assists, kills, and hit percentage. Senior Darci Metzger and sophomore Ella Vogel were the top two in kills for the Racers last year. Metzger tallied 452 with Vogel totaling 325 and they will look to pick up right where they left off in 2024.
Much of the Racers’ struggle can be attributed to errors throughout matches. While Murray State matched up well offensively against all of their opponents, they had significantly more errors. The team had 532 errors in attack, 181 serve errors and 202 reception errors. The Racers will need to find a way to clean up the errors if they want to contend for a championship this year.
The Racers will start their season in Lafayette, Louisiana for the Sawyer Camilla Memorial Volleyball Classic on Aug. 30-31, where they will play Jackson State, UT Arlington and Louisiana.
They will then play in the Elon Phoenix Classic in Elon, North Carolina on Sept. 6-7, where the Racers will play North Carolina Central, Elon and UNC Greensboro.
The final tournament they will play in is in Edwardsville, Illinois for the Southen Illinois University-Evansville Tournament on Sept. 13-14. The team will play Bellarmine, SIU-Edwardsville and Chattanooga.
MVC play starts for the Racers on Sept. 27 when they matchup against Illinois State in Normal, Illinois.
The home opener at Cutchin Fieldhouse takes place on Oct. 4, where the Racers will host the Sycamores of Indiana State, followed by a game against the Evansville Aces on Oct. 5.
The Missouri Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament takes place on Nov. 23-36 in Cedar Falls, Iowa on the campus of Northern Iowa.
