MOREHEAD, Ky. – SIUE volleyball won for the first time in program history at Morehead State, defeating the Eagles at Wetherby Gym 25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 25-20.

SIUE, 7-16 overall and 5-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference, has now won the last two meetings against Morehead State after losing the first seven the series.

"I was really proud of the fight we had in us tonight," said SIUE Head Coach Leah Johnson. "It was a good effort from the first point."

SIUE won the first set of an OVC match this season for only the second time this season. The Cougars won the first three points of the match behind the serve of sophomore libero Katie Shashack.

"Katie coming out and ripping ball down the line on her serve was huge. That run set the tone for the match," said Johnson.

The serve and pass game proved to be the difference in the match. Six different Cougars recorded a service ace, including a team-leading three from setter Mallory Mangun.

"There was a 20-point spread from us having 10 aces and Morehead having 10 missed serves," said Johnson. "That 20 points peppered in throughout the match was the difference. We played very good volleyball on our side of the net."

Johnson said the Cougars had a specific serving plan against Morehead State and also worked on keeping more balls in play. That resulted into an efficient night for Kristen Torre and Ashley Witt, who led the Cougars with 13 and 12 kills, respectively.

Morehead was fronting both Torre and Witt with two blockers for most of the match and recorded 10 blocks, but a persistent Cougars team kept the ball in play.

"I thought Ashley handled that better than anyone," said Johnson. Witt, an outside hitter, finished with a .320 hitting percentage and has now hit better than .300 in a match four times this season.

Morehead State, 9-18 overall and 6-7 in the OVC, was led by 19 kills from Meredith Jewell and 11 from Sydney Schuler.

This road trip continues Saturday with a 3 p.m. CT matchup at Eastern Kentucky.