Racer volleyball advances to OVC Championship

Photo by Chalice Keith/The News  Senior setter Sam Bedard hits the ball to teammate junior libero Ellie Lorenz.
Photo by Chalice Keith/The News
Senior setter Sam Bedard hits the ball to teammate junior libero Ellie Lorenz.

Returning to Racer Arena for the semi-finals was No. 4 Tennessee State and No. 1 Murray State for the OVC Tournament.

In a sweep win the Racers win another semifinal match against the Tigers Friday night.

Leading the team was redshirt junior right side Kristen Besselsen with a double-double 15 kills and 13 digs. Junior outside hitter Scottie Ingram added a team high 18 kills.

“It feels great,” Ingram said. “Tennessee State came out a lot stronger than we expected. They’re a great team, the game was great and every aspect of it was great so that win felt awesome. We’re super pumped about tomorrow because we played Belmont last year, obviously, so we hopefully want to come in and do the same thing.”

Though the Tigers set the first point, the Racers quickly came back to rise taking a seven point lead in just the first 15 minutes of the match. Tennessee State did not let their team back down, bringing the score to a tightening three point trail. The Racers were no match for the Tigers in the first set, when Ingram killed the set point, 25-16.

Again in the second set the Tigers took the first point but after two points the Racers came back again with a three point lead. The Tigers brought more fight in the second set with a back and forth taking the lead more than four times and a close win of the second set, 30-28.

“They obviously read us very well,” Ingram said. “We could kind of see what we could do but we made some changes that really helped us out. That’s why they are such a good team because they can make those quick changes.”

Entering the third set the Racers set the first point. After two points the Tigers took a lead for the first half of the last set. After another back and forth set the Racers trailed several times before rallying in the last nine points winning the third set point made by sophomore middle blocker Olivia Chatman, 25-21.

With 70 digs, 56 kills and assists the Racers took the Tigers to a .102 hitting percentage.

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