EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Playing its first home match of the season, SIUE volleyball put on a dominating performance, sweeping Ohio Valley Conference preseason-favorite Morehead State Friday 25-14, 25-13, 25-16.
SIUE improved to 7-7 overall and 2-1 in the OVC. Morehead State is 6-8 and also is 2-1 in OVC play.
"It's super-gratifying," SIUE Head Coach Kendall Paulus said of the win. "We had a lot of team bonding on the road (to start the season). We talked about who we wanted to be, so that when we showed up at home, we could show people what we've been doing for a month."
SIUE took control midway through the first set. Leading 11-10, the Cougars won nine of the next 11 points for a 20-12 advantage. They finished the set on a 5-1 run.
"We hadn't been great in set one," Paulus said. "We had been kind of waiting to see what the momentum was going to be, so the fact that we really took charge of what we could control was important. Our serving kept us in control."
The Cougars got out to a 9-3 lead to start set two and never looked back, hitting .429 for the set on their way to the 25-13 win.
SIUE enjoyed another fast start to set three, before Morehead State made a surge. The Cougars used a 6-0 run to build an 8-3 lead. It was 13-8 SIUE when the Eagles used a 4-0 run to trim the lead to one, forcing SIUE into a timeout. Morehead State stayed close and trailed 17-16 when the Cougars ripped off the final eight points of the night for the sweep.
For the match, SIUE finished with 37 kills and hit an even .300-the team's third-best percentage for a match this season. The Cougars limited Morehead State to just 27 0.47 hitting and forced 22 errors by the Eagles.
"Morehead is a top team in the OVC," Paulus added. "They have a lot of veteran players. We know they have the ability to point score. Keeping them out of system was a big factor for us."
Sydney Hummert and Priscilla Jones paced the Cougars' offense. Hummert led the way with nine kills. She hit .333 in 24 attempts.
"Sydney has been so clutch," Paulus said. "And she is such a defensive force for us."
Jones hit .583 in 12 attempts and finished with seven kills while adding five blocks and a dig. Nicole Kijowski finished with 23 digs.
The two teams will continue the series with a 2 p.m. match Saturday at First Community Arena.
"Last week we really took in the information from Friday into Saturday," Paulus added. "But there's not time to practice, you have to show up and make adjustments."
