RICHMOND, Ky. - Despite a career-high 21 kills from junior Shelly George, the Eastern Kentucky volleyball team dropped a 3-2 decision (23-30, 30-32, 30-28, 30-28, 12-15) to Morehead State tonight in both team's OVC opener. The Colonels drop to 6-7, 0-1 in the league while the Eagles improve to 11-6, 1-0 in conference play.
The Colonels fell behind 2-0 but forced a fifth game with a pair of two-point wins in the third and fourth sets.
George finished with a .378 hitting percentage and added a career-best nine block assists. Junior Amy Arlinghaus recorded her first-ever double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs and senior Jessica Sabath added 19 kills and 11 digs for her sixth double-double of the year.
Junior Brittany Nobilio led the Colonels with a season-high 27 digs and senior Kelly Jennings finished with a season-high 63 assists.
Eastern Kentucky finished with a season-high 20 block assists and 68 assists.
Eastern led early in game one but the Eagles built a 21-17 lead off a block assist before claiming the seven-point win, the largest margin of victory in the five games.
Following a pair of Colonel attack errors in the second game, Morehead State pulled ahead by three points (16-13) but Eastern narrowed the gap to just one (22-21). After five tie scores, the Eagles put the game away in extra points with a kill from Laura Cox and attack error from Arlinghaus.
The Colonels came out strong in game three, going ahead by five points midway through the contest. Morehead State cut its deficit to two on three consecutive kills from Cox but George kept the Colonels in the match with a kill of her own for the 30-28 win.
Eastern never trailed in game four, holding as much as a six-point lead. With the Colonels ahead by two (29-27), a service error from freshman Abbey Blank opened the door for Morehead State but the Eagles were unable to capitalize on the mistake, committing an attack error of their own.
In the final game, Morehead State used a 5-1 scoring run to gain the advantage and earned the win off consecutive kills from Erin Peak.
Senior Laura Cox led the Eagles with a game-high 26 kills and sophomore Katelyn Barbour recorded a season-best 80 assists.
Eastern Kentucky continues conference play on Friday night, hosting Tennessee Tech at 7 p.m.
