RICHMOND. Ky. – Junior Jessica Sabath tallied a match-high 15 kills to lead the Eastern Kentucky volleyball team to a sweep (30-16, 31-29, 30-19) of UT Martin Friday night at McBrayer Arena.

Senior Liz Guard registered 11 kills and a .320 attack percentage for the Colonels (12-5, 4-1) who won their 20th straight at home. Sophomore Brittany Nobilio added a match-high 16 digs for Eastern.

The Skyhawks (2-20, 0-5) were led by Jamie Hollins and Dimphy Sasse with eight kills apiece.

EKU scored seven of the first eight points in game one, highlighted by two kills from Guard and one each from sophomore Amy Arlinghaus and Sabath. Using a hitting percentage of .484, the Colonels eventually pushed the lead to 14 and coasted from there to the 1-0 lead. Sabath led Eastern with a game-high five kills.

Game two was tight from the start with UT Martin taking its first lead of the match at 17-16 on a block from Sarah Jett and Randie Wooldridge. The Skyhawks built their lead to as many as five at 24-19 on a kill from Shelby Knose, but EKU slowly crept back into the game behind two kills from Arlinghaus and another Sabath kill to cut the lead to one. However, UT Martin was the first team to gain a game point on a block from Sasse and Jett, 29-28. The Colonels tied it though on a Sabath kill and put the game away two points later on a Guard kill.

Eastern Kentucky cruised to the sweep by outscoring the Skyhawks 21-9 to close game three and holding the Skyhawks to an attack percentage of .103.

The Colonels are back in action Saturday afternoon to take on Murray State at 2 p.m.