The Morehead State volleyball team piled up seven blocks at Ohio Valley Conference-leading Murray State Saturday, but the host Racers hit .343 en route to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-12) victory over the Eagles.
Murray State finished the regular season 25-2 overall and 15-1 in the league, while Morehead State heads into the conference tournament at 10-20 overall with a 7-9 mark in the OVC.
"This was a tough match for us," Head Coach Jaime Gordon said. "We had some big breakdowns in our serve and pass game which didn't allow us to attack some matchups that we needed to."
Freshman Meredith Jewell led the Morehead State offense with seven kills, while senior Hannah Sigala had six spikes and a team-best four blocks. The Eagles managed to hit .095 and had 15 digs.
In a match where no player reached double digits in kills, Murray State's Taylor Olden led her team with nine. The hosts also dropped in 11 service aces.
"Murray State played very low-error volleyball and did a nice job of keeping the pressure on us," Gordon said. "Our team keeps fighting, which has been our identity all season. We just need to do a better job of executing what we are capable of."
Morehead State trailed 5-1 early in the opening set but later crept to within 19-17. The Racers scored six of the final eight points on four Eagle mistakes. The second set saw the visitors grab 4-1, 7-4 and 10-6 cushions before the Racers went on a 15-3 run to close out the set.
Murray State raced out to an 8-1 lead in the final set, and the Eagles never got closer than 17-9.
Morehead State's next action is in the OVC Tournament beginning Thursday in Murray.
