Story by Keenan Hall
Staff Writer
khall16@murraystate.edu
Game 1:
Murray State volleyball followed its season opening loss with a sweep of the Omaha Mavericks 25-21, 25-20 and 25-20.
The Racers started the match with a 6-0 scoring run before a timeout from the Mavericks’ head coach Rose Shires. Giustino was on the attack early, scoring a service ace to open the match.
The Racers nabbed five service aces in the first set and led the kills 13-11. Racers’ McClelland nabbed three service aces. Giustino scored five of her game-high 15 kills in the first set.
Johnson scored three of her five kills and Brown scored four of her 10 kills in the first set. The Mavericks cut the deficit to two points at 12-10 before the Racers ended the first set on a 13-11 run.
In the second set, the Racers jumped out to another early lead, 9-5. Fueled from the first set win, Giustino, Brown and junior outside-hitter Megan Lindsay put the Racers in front. The Mavericks finished the second set with a .074 hitting average, compared to the Racers .242 hitting average.
The Mavericks kept the score close, never trailing more than six points in the second set. However, for every run forced from the Mavericks, the Racers had an answer. Brown had four kills in the second and Lindsay had three kills and one block.
Schwepker told his team that carrying their practice performance to their game play will benefit them in the long run.
“I want to see what we see in practice,” Schwepker said. “I don’t want to see them better than they are in practice, I don’t want to see them worse than what they are in practice. Because then we can improve upon that.”
After halftime, the Mavericks opened with an early 4-2 lead over the Racers. Then, an attack error from the Mavericks and an ace from sophomore Libero Becca Fernandez knotted the third set 4-4.
Another attack error from the Mavericks shortly after the tie gave the Racers a 6-5 lead. The Racers never trailed after being down early in the last set. The Racers won the kill battle 13-12 in the third set, meanwhile, the Mavericks had eight attack errors and four service errors that kept the Racers in the lead.
Sophomore setter Callie Anderton dished out a game-high 33 assists in the match. Fernandez and junior libero Alex Kaufmann led all players with eight digs apiece.
Game 2:
The Racers finished the New Orleans Invitational with back-to-back sweeps, defeating the New Orleans Privateers 25-22, 25-22 and 25-18.
It was neck and neck throughout most of the first set. The Privateers held a .323 hitting average in the first set, as opposed to the Racers’ .184 hitting average. However, the Racers tallied more kills than the Privateers 16-12.
Murray State also recorded six players with at least one kill in the first set. Giustino led the way for the Racers early, seizing five kills in the first set.
In the second set, the Racers started with a 3-0 scoring run after two bad sets by the Privateers, and a service ace from the Racers. Immediately after, the Privateers rallied off seven straight points to gain the lead 7-3.
Brown stopped the run by scoring three kills in a row before changes were made by the Privateers. Giustino followed suit and rattled off three kills of her own to take the lead in the second set 10-9.
Throughout the second set the Racers and the Privateers went back and forth, with neither team forcing their will on the other. Murray State did manage to hold the Privateers to a .148 hitting average and only allowed eight kills. The Racers’ 15 kills carried them to a win in the second set.
In the final set, the Racers raised their hitting average to .303 and scored more kills than the Privateers 16-10. The Racers initiated their attack with a 2-1 lead, and never trailed in the third set. Murray State wrapped up a consecutive sweep ending the third set on a 23-17 scoring run.
Murray State was in control throughout the match. Something that’s the Racers are familiar with according to their coach.
“I just think they settled down and just kind of played their game,” Schwepker said.
The Privateers could not overcome the balanced attack from the Murray State outside hitters Giustino, Brown and Lindsay. Giustino ended the match with a game-high 20 kills on a .412 hitting average. Brown finished the match with 11 kills and Lindsay matched her career-high with 10 kills.
Anderton dished out another high-assist game with 42 assists, meanwhile Johnson collected three blocks. Kaufmann finished the match with a game-high 13 kills.
Schwepker spoke highly of Brown and Giustino for leading the team out of the hump in game one.
“I thought Dacia had a great weekend in all three matches,” Schwepker said. “Rachel struggled the first match, along with everyone else on the team. But she really played well the second and third match.”
Schwepker hopes his team garners some experience from this weekend’s games which will translate to the conference portion of the schedule.
“Seeing where we are, what we need to work on to prepare for the OVC,” Schwepker said. “We play these preseason matches so we can have everything ironed out before the OVC.”
The Racers (2-1) will now advance to the 2018 Saluki Invitational where they will play two matches in as many days. Murray State’s first match is against the Miami, Ohio RedHawks at 1 p.m. Aug. 31 in Carbondale, Illinois.