MSU Volleyball team beats Cougars in four sets by 3-1
Sophomore Wendi Zickfield’s career-best 21 kills led the Murray State Racers to a 3-1 victory over SIU Edwardsville on Tuesday, October 4. The thrilling encounter was staged at the Racers Arena in Murray State, Kentucky.
The visiting team from Edwardsville could seize only one set in the entire match as the MSU Racers came back thundering after the loss of the opening set at 23-25 and settled for victory by posting 27-25, 25-22, 25-22 in the following three sets. Racers
improved to a 4-14 record on the season and collected their fourth win in the Ohio Valley Conference, 4-3.
The match-high 21 kills from Wendi Zickfield paced things for Racers in the match. She actively attempted attacks and found a great rhythm to bring her team on top. Sophomore Casey Bucher tallied her first career double-double. She picked out 11 kills and
a season-best 10 digs. Senior Teresa Krog and junion Cassy Woorington contributed 15 kills each.
Cougars heavily relied on outside hitter Emma Anderson and Kelsey Augustine, who formed a great combination and added 15 kills apiece. Anderson had a good grip on the ball and recorded 12 of her 15 kills in the first two sets, while Augustine recorded 12
of 15 kills in the final two sets. Cougars’ effort was commendable but Racers refused to accept their better status in the game.
Racers took a brilliant start and converted the early lead of 3-0 into 11-6. Visitors got the influence from opponent in the early phase of the match but came up with strong reaction later on. They went on a 9-0 run, which helped them leave the Racers behind,
22-19. Host ladies responded with 3-0 run and hit the equalizer at 22-all. However, SIUE gave the final touch to first set with 25-23 win.
Second set was closely contested as both sides frequently traded lead. The back-and-forth action of volleyball continued from start till end, while two sides saw 17 ties in the second set. Cougars tried to extend their lead but Racers resisted in full force.
The situation remained undecided until the home squad closed off second set at 27-25. Zickfield and Krog enabled the Racers to win second set with final two kills.
MSU got its form back with second-set victory and combined strong offense with solid defence in next two sets. They won the last two sets with identical score of 25-22 and announced match victory over Cougars.
The SIUE Head Coach, Leah Johnson, congratulated MSU for winning the match. He praised their right attitude in the game and stated his views in the following manner: "Their mentality is in the right place. They know they need to keep pushing. We just need
to come out of the gate with that attitude."
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