Morehead, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky volleyball team moved one step closer to hosting the 2004 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament by defeating Morehead State, 3-1, on Wednesday night. EKU (24-4, 14-1 OVC) rode a 23-kill, 11-dig effort from senior Lesley Aldridge to the victory and needs to score a victory over Austin Peay in Saturday's regular-season finale to lock up the OVC's top seed.

Morehead State (8-19, 7-8 OVC) tallied more kills, assists, digs and blocks in the match, but was unable to come away with a win despite a 31-kill, 13-dig double-double from Jennifer Kennedy. The Colonels hit .286 in the match (including a .372 mark in the final game) thanks in part to the efforts of junior Liz Guard (.593) and sophomore Kasha Brozek (.538).

Aldridge, who now needs just 10 more digs to overtake Becky Galati as the school's all-time digs leader, led the way offensively but was followed closely by an 18-kill, four-block outing from Guard. EKU's co-captain registered 66 attacks in the match, pushing her past Amy Merron (3,932) for third place on the school's all-time list.

The Eagles ran out to a quick 10-5 advantage from the onset of game one, receiving a boost from a trio of EKU errors. The Colonels fought their way back into the game and trailed 12-9 before rattling off an 8-0 run to go on top 17-12. Guard was instrumental in the EKU rally, chipping in a kill and a pair of blocks. EKU maintained its lead and held a 22-17 edge before hitting errors again brought Morehead State back into the contest. Aldridge accounted for four consecutive Eastern Kentucky points down the stretch and put Eastern ahead, 28-26, with her eighth kill of the game before sophomore Jessica Sabath put the bout away with back-to-back kills.

The Colonels faced a one-point deficit, 14-13, near the midway point of game two but rattled off a 4-0 run to take a three-point lead, 17-14, which they would never relinquish. Eastern built its lead to 23-17 after a kill by freshman Amy Arlinghaus and a Morehead State hitting error, and went on to claim a 30-25 victory after a ball handling error by the Eagles at game point.

EKU held a 7-6 advantage through the early goings of game three, but Morehead State answered with three-straight points and never trailed again as the Eagles kept the match alive with a 30-26 win. Eastern fell behind by as many as five points, 23-18, after a 4-0 Morehead run but pulled within three, 26-23, after Guard and Sabath teamed up on a block. The Eagles, however, managed to fend off the EKU charge and force a fourth game by outhitting the Colonels .342 to .216.

Eastern closed out the match with a 30-27 victory in game four, a contest which included 13 tie scores and was square at 26-all after a kill by Morehead's Kennedy. Sabath and junior Libby Schleisman afforded the Colonels some breathing room with a kill and a clutch service ace on consecutive plays to make it 28-26. Kennedy brought the Eagles back with another kill, but Guard and Aldridge answered with kills on consecutive plays to seal the match.

The Colonels, who entered the contest ranked second in the nation with a 20.29 digs-per-game average, were held to 58 digs on the night, led by a match-high 18 from freshman Brittany Nobilio. Sabath was second among all Colonels players with 14 digs.

EKU closes out the regular season on Saturday afternoon, when it welcomes Austin Peay at 4 p.m. in what will be Senior Night for Lesley Aldridge. A win over the third-place Lady Govs will allow Eastern to play host to the 2004 OVC Tournament as the league's top seed.