MURRAY STATE SWEEPS JMU 3-0 IN VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT OPENER

Friday, September 3

Cincinnati, Ohio

5:00 p.m.

James Madison University

3-1

Murray State

1-4

JMU

Murray State

MURRAY STATE SWEEPS JMU 3-0 IN VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT OPENER

9/3/2010 10:41:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

CINCINNATI, Ohio, Sept. 3, 2010 - Murray State outhit James Madison .229 to .118 and used a 63 to 48 advantage in digs to hand the Dukes a 3-0 loss in the opener of the Cincinnati Bearcats Invitational Friday night at Fifth Third Arena.

Murray State picked up its first win of the year to improve to 1-4 while winning by set scores of 25-23, 25-19 and 25-18. JMU lost its first decision of the season to drop to 3-1.

The Racers outhit the Dukes in each of the three sets and held an eight to four advantage in blocks. Three different MSU players posted 11 or more digs to help them to a 63-48 edge in digs. JMU had a seven to five advantage in service aces, but also had 13 service errors to Murray State's five.

Ashley Nenninger led all players with a match-high 10 kills on .261 hitting. She also tied for a match-high with five blocks, including three solo blocks. Kayleah Sauer had a match-high 17 digs while setter Jade Guo led all players with 31 assists. Wendi Zickfield chipped in with five block assists and Katlyn Hudson and Lydia Orf had 12 and 11 digs, respectively.

Senior Lauren Fanelli (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) had a double-double with 16 assists and 11 digs to lead Madison. Junior Kelly Turner (Ontario, N.Y./Wayne Central) had a team-high eight kills on .278 hitting while sophomore Danielle Erb (Tampa, Fla./Plant) and senior Lindsay Callahan (Virginia Beach, Va./Landstown) had seven kills apiece. Callahan also led the Dukes with four blocks. Junior Holly Wall (Kaukauna, Wisc./Kaukauna) had a team-best 12 digs and redshirt sophomore Natalie Abel (Washington, Pa./Trinity) chipped in with 10 digs.

The first set was a tight affair with no team holding more than a four-point advantage. Early on JMU led by as much as 12-8 before a 4-0 Racer run evened the set. MSU followed by opening up a 17-14 lead and eventually stretched in to 24-20. After a timeout, the Dukes fought off three consecutive set points, but Zickfield put the set away with a kill.

Set two saw the teams battle to an early 4-4 tie when Murray State reeled of seven straight points with Katlyn Hudson on the serve. The Dukes cut the lead to 15-14 before the Racers won five of the next six points to take a 20-15 advantage and force a JMU timeout. Madison couldn't get closer than four the rest of the way and the Racers took set two 25-19.