In a thrilling back-and-forth match, the Morehead State volleyball team outlasted Eastern Illinois, 3-2. Freshman Merideth Jewell led the way for MSU with 22 kills. The Eagles downed the Panthers, 25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-12.
The win moves Morehead State to 7-7 in league play with just two matches remaining, while EIU falls to 10-4.
"I think our team showed a tremendous amount of character tonight, they showed a lot of fight," said head coach Jaime Gordon. "There's no doubt we had our fair share of adversity all season long and they've had plenty of opportunities to cash it in, but that's not the way that they are and I think tonight showed what type of players we have in our program."
The Eagles opened the match with a 25-23 win in the first, but the Panthers responded with a 25-21 win in the second. In the third, MSU recaptured the lead with a 25-22 win as junior Bailey Nichol recorded an ace to clinch the set, just as she did in the first. In the fourth, however, EIU answered again, this time with a resounding 25-17 win.
In the decisive fifth set, with the score knotted at 6-6, the Eagles scored four of five, two points on kills by senior Hannah Sigala, to open a 10-7 lead. Following an EIU timeout, they quickly reeled off three straight to even things up at 10-10. But, this time the Eagles would respond for good. Junior Sydney Schuler recorded back-to-back kills to give MSU a 13-11 lead and then Jewell put it away with back-to-back kills of her own, claiming the set, 15-12, and the match, 3-2.
The win against EIU, a team that sits near the top of the OVC conference, gives the Eagles plenty of confidence as they enter the final two matches of the regular season.
"When they (EIU) are playing their best, I think they are the best team in the conference, so for us to get a win against them is huge and gives us some positive momentum to build off of," said Gordon.
Jewell's 22 kills came off of 70 total attacks and she also finished with a team-high 12 digs. Junior Alli Evans played her most prominent role of the season in the Eagles' offense and responded with 12 kills, while Schuler continued to perform well with 11 kills of her own.
"It was super exciting to play well against a great team," said Jewell. "This team has come a long way, despite the adversity that we have faced. Alli stepped right in and played very well tonight. It says a lot about our improvement if we can beat a team like that (EIU)."
Nine different players saw action tonight for the Eagles and many contributed. Junior Stacy Silver came off of the bench to provide eight crucial digs.
"If we had the kitchen sink on the bench, we would have thrown that at them, too," said Gordon. "When you have a team that is going to stick together, and fight, and find ways to scrap, it doesn't matter who we put out there or what position we put them in, I'm going to have confidence in them."
The Eagles now turn their attention to the final week of the regular season as they host Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. and then travel to the top team in the conference, Murray State, on Saturday at noon.
