2024-09-06 14:45:02
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MOREHEAD, Ky. — Morehead State Volleyball will search for its first victories of 2024 this weekend when the team makes another short trek for a trio of matches. This time, it will be in rival country as the Eagles face off with former OVC foes Eastern Kentucky and Youngstown State, plus Radford, at EKU’s Geri Polvino Invitational.
MSU will open the event against the Colonels at 1 p.m. ET Friday, then doubleheader it with YSU at 4 p.m. On Saturday, Radford will be on the opposite of the net at 11 a.m. All matches are in the Rick Erdmann Olympic Sports Training Center due to EKU’s primary arena being under construction.
The EKU match will be on ESPN+, but the other two will not be streamed.
2024 RECORDS
- Morehead State (0-3, 0-0 OVC)
- Eastern Kentucky (1-2, 0-0 A-SUN)
- Youngstown State (1-2, 0-0 HORIZON)
- Radford (1-2, 0-0 BIG SOUTH)
PREVIOUS MEETING & SERIES HISTORY
- Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky have played 121 times since 1972, according to MSU records, and the Eagles lead the series with their former OVC rival 71-50. The teams have not played since 2021 when EKU departed the OVC for the Atlantic Sun. MSU owns a seven-match winning streak against the Colonels.
- The Eagles are 13-2 all-time against another former OVC member, Youngstown State. Since YSU departed the league after 1987, MSU has only met the Penguins four times and have gone 3-1. The last meetings came in Morehead in 2017 when YSU won 3-0.
- Morehead State has a 4-2 record in the series with Radford. The last three meetings have come in Morehead (2014 twice and 2021), but the Highlanders won two of those.
NOTABLE
- On opening weekend (against Northern Kentucky on Saturday), Peighton Isley became the 29th player in program history in the 1,000-dig club. She now has 1,015 digs, ranking 25th in program history. Her 564 digs in 2023 ranked ninth on the program single-season dig chart.
- Peighton Isley earned All-Tournament honors for the Bluegrass Battle at Kentucky on opening weekend.
- M.E. Hargan and Irene Wogenstahl are both on the Ohio Valley Conference preseason All-Conference team.
- Irene Wogenstahl has a career .289 hitting percentage, which currently ranks tied for fifth best percentage in program history. Her total actually ranks first at MSU in the rally-scoring era (2001-present).
- Irene Wogenstahl has 63 solo blocks in her career, which ranks tied for fourth in program history. Her 336 total blocks in her career still rank seventh all-time, but she needs just two more to climb past Erin Peak (337 from 2005-08) into sixth.
- Wogenstahl also led MSU on offense in the first three matches, notching 24 kills and 2.18 per set. M.E. Hargan is the Eagles’ leader in kills per set at 2.27.
- Wogenstahl and sophomore Amelia Nott combined for 17 blocks in the opening trio of matches. Nott has played in 124 career sets now with 92 career total blocks.
- Morehead State returned its entire roster from 2023. The Eagles also added three newcomers for one of the larger rosters in recent history with 16 players.
- Newcomers Sarah Heath and Tinsley Brown both saw action in their first matches as Eagles.
- Newcomer Sarah Heath, an outside hitter, was a First-Team JUCO All-American at Richard Bland College (Va.) in 2023 and a Second-Team All-American in 2022.
- MSU is deploying a 6-2 offense with two accomplished setters. Graduate student Brenna Bommer (35 assists) and sophomore Sydney Sennett (39 assists) split duties on opening weekend.
- Morehead State is the only OVC program with more than 1,000 wins in the history of its program. The Eagles also boast 14 total conference championships (regular-season and tournaments).
- MSU has 12 20+ win seasons in the last 20 years.
- Head coach Kyrsten Becker-McBride is in her second season as the program’s leader, guiding the team to 18 wins in her first campaign. But, she is in her 14th season overall on the MSU coaching staff.
RECORD/MILESTONE WATCH
