By Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations
SCHEDULE PAGE (LINKS TO LIVE VIDEO AND STATS)
MOREHEAD, Ky. –– Morehead State volleyball is set for the first of two midweek Ohio Valley Conference battles with Tennessee Tech. The Eagles and Golden Eagles will serve it up from Cookeville, Tenn., Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.
Having been the league leader the entire spring season and winning the OVC Tournament, MSU finds itself back to even this fall at 2-2, but will be facing the current OVC co-leader in Tennessee Tech. The Golden Eagles have won their first four league matchups.
The match will be live on ESPN+ with Dylan Vazzano calling the plays.
SERIES RECORD
Morehead State leads 75-20 | MOR has won 7 straight | Last Meeting (3/8/21 – MOR won 3-0 in Cookeville, Tenn.)
2021 RECORDS
MOR: 6-9 (2-2 OVC) | TTU: 9-6 (4-0 OVC)
NOTABLE
– Morehead State, with a commanding 75-20 advantage in the all-time series, has won seven straight matches against Tennessee Tech. Taking it further, the Eagles have won 10 of the last 11 times the two squads have met since 2015 – which was the last time MSU lost in Cookeville.
– Morehead State and Murray State played the longest and highest scoring set in Morehead State history last Friday wth the Eagles finally prevailing 38-36 in the first set to go on to a three-set win. That’s a span of nearly 1,700 total matches since 1972 and more than 750 since the rally scoring era began in 2001.
– Two-time OVC Player of the Year Olivia Lohmeier is on the verge of moving into second place in career kills in MSU program history. She has 1,762 career spikes, needing only 11 more to surpass Dayle Hamontree in second place. She would need to generate 531 more kills to overtake Lauren Mackey Rust (1995-98) for the Eagle all-time record. Rust also owns the OVC career kills mark. Lohmeier needs only 13, however, to move into the OVC’s top five in career terminations.
– Lohmeier has been honored as the OVC Offensive Player of the Week 13 times in her career, which is the program record. She is among the most honored in league history with former Austin Peay setter Kristin Stucker owning that record at 19 weekly awards.
– Junior libero Allison Whitten recorded just the third 40-dig effort in program history Oct. 1 versus Murray State, amazingly in a three-set match. Her total is the fourth highest single-match dig output in Division I this season. Whitten has upped her career dig total to 1,524, which ranks eighth in program history.
– The OVC Freshman of the Year in 2019 and First-Team All-OVC in 2021 spring, setter Bridget Bessler has double-doubles in three of her last four matches since returning from an injury that sidelined her for four matches. Bessler now has 2,326 career assists and is ranked eighth in career helpers in program history.
– Bessler was honored for the second time this season as the OVC Setter of the Week. She now has nine career OVC Setter of the Week accolades.
– Morehead State’s net defense was outstanding in the two wins over Murray State. The Eagles combined for 27 blocks, 14 on Friday and 13 more Saturday. Those are the two highest single-match team block totals this year. Several Eagles had career-best days blocking. On Friday, redshirt freshman middle McKenzee Wagener turned back a career-high nine Racer attacks, with three solo rejections. Freshman Irene Wogenstahl was a part of a career-high six blocks, while sophomore outside hitter Abby Hulsman tied her career-best with four blocks. On Saturday, freshman Maycie Welborn was a part of a career-best six blocks, and Lohmeier equaled Welborn with a career-high six stops.
– Morehead State boasts the OVC’s only program to eclipse 1,000 victories. The Eagles reached that mark late in the spring season and now have 1,012 career triumphs since the program began as a varsity sport in 1972. MSU also boasts the most number of OVC Player of the Year awards (8) than any other league program.
– Head coach Dr. Jaime Gordon, who also serves as MSU’s Director of Athletics, has led MSU to 332 of those wins as he is the all-time winningest coach in any sport at Morehead State.