As the weather in Clarksville dropped to cooler temperatures, APSU Volleyball continued its hot streak at home.
Although there were a couple bumps in the road, the four-game homestand for the Lady Govs couldn’t have gone much better in the opening week of Ohio Valley Conference play. On Saturday, APSU remained unbeaten in conference with a sweep of Morehead State at the Dunn Center, maintaining its position of tied for first in the standings.
Morehead State (0-17, 0-4 OVC) eliminated the Lady Govs from the postseason tournament a year ago, and even though they don’t want to get too emotional coming into matches, there was a little motivation to get back at the Eagles.
“We tried to talk about it being one more match, but it left a bitter taste in our mouth,” head coach Taylor Mott said. “Maybe that was a little bit of extra motivation, but we tried not to over-think it too much.”
Despite an off day by senior outside hitter Jada Stotts, who connected with just seven kills in the match, it was still a historic afternoon for her. Stotts recorded her 1,000th career dig in the second set, becoming just the seventh Lady Gov to reach 1,000 kills and digs, inking her name a
APSU (10-10, 4-0 OVC) jumped out to an early lead on the Eagles in the opening set, but had their lowest attack percentage of the three sets at .162 to allow Morehead to make things interesting. However, the Lady Govs held on to claim it, 25-20.
In the second, APSU was out of sync for much of the frame, but received a boost as freshman Ashley Slay stepped up to deliver big kills to shift the momentum. Throughout the match, the Lady Govs benefited from 13 total serve errors by Morehead, giving fortune to the home team to take control going into the third. APSU gained an early edge in the deciding frame, going up 17-10, until the Eagles fought back to almost stay alive. But in the end, the Lady Govs were able to knock off the defending champs in straight sets by winning the third, 25-23.
APSU will now go on the road for the next four match, beginning with a match-up against SIU Edwardsville on Oct. 10.
Photo: Jada Stotts delivers a kill in a previous match against UT Martin (Chris Malone/The All State)
