Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois ran into a hot hitting Austin Peay squad on Sunday night as the Governors pulled away in the final two sets to beat EIU 3-1.
Â
It was the first time this season that APSU (5-2) had played more than three sets in a match. EIU fell to 0-7 with the match scored at 25-22, 24-26, 25-10, 25-15.
Â
The two clubs were closely contested in the first two sets. APSU opened up a 15-11 lead running off six straight points after trailing 11-9.  Brooke Moore, Claire Darland and Chloe Stitt all had kills in the run foreshadowing a night that five Governors finished with double figure kills. EIU would close to within 22-20 on a kill by
Kylie Michael. Moore and Stitt would combine for four kills in final APSU points to close out the set as APSU hit .400 in the set.
Â
In the second set the two teams were tied sixteen times. APSU built a 16-13 lead only to see EIU tie the match at 16-16 on a kill by
Laurel Bailey and APSU attack error. EIU would go up in the set 24-23 after a kill by Michael and service ace by
Ashley Sharkus. A Bailey kill and attack error by APSU closed out the set.Â
Â
In the third set, APSU connected for a .708 attack percentage as they quickly rolled to a big lead. They finished with 18 kills on 24 attacks with one error.  Some of the damage in the set was done by Darland who finished the match with 11 kills on 13 attacks with no errors for a .846 attack percentage.Â
Â
The hot hitting continued in the fourth for APSU as they hit .412 for the set and finished hitting .409 for the match. After EIU closed an early lead to 9-8, APSU collected eight kills going on an 11-2 run to turn a one point lead into a ten point advantage. The Panthers would get late kills in the set by Bailey and
Danielle Allen before APSU closed it out.
Â
Bailey led EIU with 17 kills while hitting .309. Michael added double digit kills finishing with ten. Sharkus led EIU with 12 digs.
Â
Taylor McInerney led APSU with 16 kills while Nina Korfhage had 20 digs.Â
