The Racers continued their season with their second series, starting on Friday, Sept. 5, against Western Illinois and Saint Louis at Chaifetz Pavilion, followed by Austin Peay on Saturday, Sept. 6.
Match 1 vs Western Illinois
Murray State started their first of two games on Friday at 10 a.m. for their first game against Western Illinois this season. The Racers snagged an early lead in the first set, however, Western Illinois was able to catch up halfway through the set. The Leathernecks were able to uphold their lead and won the set 25-20.
Although Western Illinois started out ahead, the Racers were able to come back from their offensive struggles and managed to steal the set with a 25-20 score. The next set was neck-and-neck. Nearing the end of the set, the Racers fell behind and eventually lost as the Leathernecks won 25-19.
Murray State capitalized on an early lead but even as Western Illinois caught up, the Racers held their own and won the fourth set 26-24. With the final and most important set underway, the Racers were able to secure their victory, ending the game with a 15-12 score in the fifth set. Ella Vogel, a senior outside hitter, had 17 kills and 20.5 total points throughout the game, helping the Racers as they outscored Western Illinois by one total point across the whole game. Freshman outside hitter Mija Pristovnik also had 15 kills and 16.5 points of her own.
Match 2 vs Saint Louis
Murray State faced Saint Louis at 7 p.m. the same day, the first set lead alternating between the teams but inevitably going in Saint Louis’ favor as they took the first set 25-19. The offense persistently struggled as Saint Louis continued to rake against the Racers, the Racers scoring mainly off of the opposing teams errors rather than earning their points from their own offensive efforts. The errors can only help so much until Saint Louis holds their lead and eventually wins 25-16.
The offense begins to pick up starting the third set, keeping a tying or close score rather than falling behind. However, similar to Saint Louis in the previous set, the Racers began to make more costly errors, leading to them to slip their lead and fall behind once again, Saint Louis scoring 25-12 and sweeping the Racers in three sets.
The main hardship throughout the game was gaining and keeping a lead, only taking the lead once throughout the game and having only seven tied scores overall. Even though there were problems with scoring, both Vogel and Pristovnik had seven kills and were responsible for seven points each. Federcia Nuccio, a senior outside hitter, also assisted with five kills and six points of her own.
Match 3 vs Austin Peay
The last game of the series was on Saturday, Sept. 6, at 11 a.m. against Austin Peay. Entering the first set, the Racers began with an early advantage and were able to maintain it during the set, outscoring Austin Peay 25-17. The next set was much closer as Austin Peay was able to take advantage of the Racers errors while also scoring for themselves. Even with the mistakes, the Racers were able to build up momentum in the middle of the set and created a gap between the scores and secured the second set in a 25-19 victory.
Austin Peay was able to steal the momentum in the third set, and even though the Racers momentarily caught up, they quickly trailed behind 25-14 despite their efforts to catch up. With the outcome of the previous set, the tensions were high as the Governors had their newfound motivation and drive. Even though the Racers stole back the lead three separate times, their efforts fell short as Austin Peay took another set, this time 25-23.
Nearing the end of the game, both teams’ offenses were at their peak, keeping the score close with every play. Nonetheless, the game ended as the Racers failed to continue their previous rally and lost 15-10. Despite the end result, the game was close as there were 21 total tied scores due to 21 kills by Vogel, 17 kills by Nuccio and seven kills by Pristovnik.
The Racers play their next game at 10 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 12, at Cape Girardeau against Weber State.
