Box Score

RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky freshman Alex Plagens made her first appearance in front of the home fans a memorable one, finishing with a match-high 24 kills to lead the Colonels to a 3-1 victory over Austin Peay in EKU’s first home match of the 2011 season. 

The win was the 800th for the Eastern Kentucky program.  Only one other NCAA Division I volleyball program in the state of Kentucky has more.

Eastern (6-6, 1-0 OVC) won by scores of 23-25, 25-19, 25-23 and 25-23. 

Plagens made just four errors in 43 attempts for a .465 attack percentage.  Sophomore Ashley Edmond had 16 kills.  Freshman Abbey Cvelbar posted 10 kills, 46 assists and nine digs.  Freshman Hannah Burkle contributed five total blocks and seven kills.

Ilyanna Hernandez led Austin Peay (2-10, 0-1 OVC) with 17 kills.

EKU never trailed in the first set until the final two points.  The Colonels had five four-point leads and a five-point lead at 22-17, but couldn’t put the Lady Govs away.  APSU used an 8-1 run to end the set and take a 1-0 lead. 

A kill by Plagens gave Eastern Kentucky a 10-5 lead in the second set.  The Lady Govs never let the margin get larger than five until back-to-back kills by Robyn Hench and Plagens ended the set 25-19 in favor of the home team and tied the match.  EKU had 19 kills and only three errors for a .432 attack percentage in the second set.

With the third set tied 23-23, Edmond and Plagens scored consecutive kills to put Eastern in front 2-1.  Austin Peay tied the fourth set 23-23 on a kill by Hernandez, but the result was similar as the third set.  Eastern scored the final two points – a kill by Edmond and an APSU error – to take the set and the match.

EKU finished with only three more kills than the Lady Govs, but the Colonels out-hit Austin Peay .262 to .215 and held a 9-4 advantage in blocks.

Freshman Dena Ott added a match-best 38 digs for the winners.

The Colonels will look for their first 2-0 start to the conference schedule since 2005 when they host Tennessee State at 2 p.m. on Saturday.