Nov. 8, 2009

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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (Sunday, November 8, 2009) – An campus-wide power outage didn’t affect the Redhawks volleyball team’s play as they supplied more than enough energy to defeat Eastern Kentucky, 3-1 (25-15, 19-25, 25-14, 25-22) on Sunday afternoon. Playing on Jerry Grim Court at Notre Dame Regional High School due to the power outage, the Redhawks extended their season’s best winning streak to four-straight matches and improved to 8-8 in the OVC and 13-15 overall.

The Redhawks win put them in the driver’s seat for the sixth and final spot for a berth into the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. Heading into the delayed match-up the Redhawks were just a game and a half ahead of the Colonels (6-18, 5-9 OVC). With the win the Redhawks need one more win in their final two contests combined with one loss from the Colonels in their final four OVC matches.

The Redhawks took control of the match in the opening set as they quickly built a 10-3 lead thanks to a 6-0 run. The Colonels managed to cut the deficit to five but the Redhawks offense continued to pour it on as they went ahead 19-10 and closed out the set with a Claire Keaton (Incarnate Word Academy/St. Louis, Mo.) kill.

The Redhawks recorded 16 kills in the first set and finished with a .273 attack percentage. The Coloenls had just ten kills and hit .095.

However the Colonels would battle back in the second set. They would jump out to a 2-0 lead and never relinquish the lead. The Redhawks managed to make it with a point, 15-14 but the Colonels answered with a 10-5 run to close the set.

15 of the Colonels 25 points came by kill as they hit .317 in the set. The Redhawks were held to a .179 attack percentage but 14 of their 18 points came by kill.

After the intermission the Redhawks came out of the locker room confident and defensive minded. In the third set the Redhawks held the Colonels to a .077 attack percentage and just nine kills as they led throughout the third frame.

In the fourth set the Colonels put on a fight as the set featured eight ties and five lead changes. The Redhawks took control early as they grabbed a seemingly comfortable 9-4 lead. The Colonels then used a 6-0 run to grab a 10-9 advantage. Both teams exchanged points before the Redhawks again grabbed a sizable lead, 16-12. Yet another run by the Colonels, a 7-2 run, again gave them a one point advantage. The Redhawks answered with a pair of 2-0 runs that gave them a 23-21 advantage. After a sideout by the Colonels made it 23-22 the Redhawks closed with a kill by Keaton and an ace by Sarah Barth (Central Community/Germantown, Ill.) for the match winner.

For the match the Redhawks offense again excelled as they recorded their fourth-straight match and fifth in their last six matches in which they finished with an attack percentage over .200. The Redhawks finished with a .208 percentage and held the Colonels to a .156 clip.

It was the seniors that led the way for the Redhawks, only fitting since the team honored its four seniors prior to their last match in their careers in Cape Girardeau. Amanda Rickhoff (Southwestern Illinois College/Bartelso, Ill.) had her best overall match of the season as he finished with her fourth career double-double with a season and team-best 15 kills and added 11 digs. She had a team-best 39 swings and finished with a .256 attack percentage.

Senior Karleigh DeLong (Santiago/Corona, Calif.) also recorded a double-double, her tenth of the season, with 14 kills and 16 digs. She committed just two attack errors and just missed out on a triple-double as she added a season-high seven assists. She led all players with a .333 attack percentage.

Off the heels of her near triple-double on Friday, Barth recorded her second-straight double-double with a match-highs of 39 assists and 22 digs. The 22 digs set a new career-high. She also had seven kills and finished with a .250 attack percentage.

Defensively Keaton recorded 15 digs and Kelly Benacka (Jacobs/Algonquin, Ill.) added 12 digs. Molly Davis (Burris/Muncie, Ind.) finished with eight digs.

Keaton also added seven kills and Benacka led all players with two aces.

The Colonels were led by Lindsey Loescher who had a match-best 18 kills. Amanda Fago chipped in 11 kills. Kate Hendle recorded a double-double with 39 assists and 19 digs tying the match-highs in both categories. Abby O’Connor also had 19 digs.

The Colonels lost their tenth-straight road match dating back to last season. There are winless, 0-16 when they play away from Richmond, Ky.

The Redhawks improved to 16-1 all-time against the Colonels in Cape Girardeau, Mo.

The Redhawks quest for their OVC record 19th-straight tournament berth this week on the road as they close the regular season at Murray State on Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 7:00 p.m. followed by their season finale at Eastern Illinois on Friday, Nov. 13.