Morehead State volleyball won the opening set against Butler on Friday (August 30) at Cincinnati's Fifth Third Arena, but the Bulldogs rattled off three straight to defeat the Eagles 3-1 in the Cincinnati Invitational.
The Eagles fell to 0-2 on the season, while the Bulldogs moved to 2-0.
"We have some areas we need to work on. We know what those are and we'll get prepared for a tough Cincinnati team tomorrow. It's still early, and I like that our team is playing hard," commented MSU Coach Jaime Gordon.
Butler's Claire Randich led all players with 12 kills while hitting .500. Two others, Belle Obert (11 kills) and Mary Stiedl (10 kills), reached double digits as well. The Bulldogs finished at .316 hitting efficiency and racked up 13.5 blocks. MSU hit only .082.
Morehead State got a team-high 10 kills from senior outside hitter Aryn Bohannon. Junior setter Colbey Cameron notched her second straight double-double (33 assists, 17 digs), and senior libero Leslie Schellhaas tallied 16 ups.
With the first set tied at eight apiece, the Eagles rattled off the next three points, including two Bohannon spikes. MSU never trailed again in the frame, moving out to as much as a 20-14 advantage. Bohannon and sophomore middle blocker Hannah Sigala landed four kills each.
Butler raced away with the 12-point win in set two by virtue of a .385 attack efficiency. The Bulldogs constructed a 9-3 run midway through the set and an 8-0 scoring flurry late.
The Eagles committed eight attack errors in the third set, while the Bulldogs smacked 13 winners and hit .478. Butler led the entire set and finished on an 8-2 run after leading 17-11. Butler registered 13 kills in the fourth set, and MSU was forced into nine errors. The Bulldogs held advantages in kills (49-45) and digs (66-54) for the night.
Morehead State faces the host team, Cincinnati Bearcats, on Saturday (August 31) at 4:30 p.m.
