Morehead State volleyball is ready for the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The Eagles earned the No. 3 seed for the three-day event and are matched up first with No. 6 Tennessee State. The Eagles and Tigers are the event's first action at 11 a.m. ET Thursday in Martin, Tenn., at Skyhawk Fieldhouse.
All OVC Tournament matches are streamed live on ESPN+.
Should the Eagles advance in the single-elimination tournament, they'll face the winner of No. 2 Tennessee Tech/No. 7 Lindenwood at 4 p.m. ET Friday. Saturday title match is set for 8 p.m. ET.
2022 RECORDS
MOR: 14-15 (10-8 OVC) | TSU: 16-15 (10-8 OVC)
SERIES RECORD
MSU leads 62-13 | Morehead State has won 11 straight in the series, including sweeping the Tigers in Morehead on Oct. 6-7 (3-1 and 3-2).
NOTABLE
- Morehead State has won five OVC Tournament titles, with the latest being in the spring 2021 season. The Eagles have an all-time record of 34-26 in tournament matches, while Tennessee State is 5-18. This is the first time the tournament is being held in Martin, Tenn., since 2001 and 2002 and MSU has a 1-2 record all-time in tourney matches at UT Martin.
- Morehead State was 7-7 in the regular season against the tournament's other seven seeds.
- Morehead State has had six OVC Tournament Most Valuable Players all-time, including Dayle (Hamontree) Harms (1988), Missy Blanford (1989), Shelly (Rocke) Sorg (1993), Emma Keough (2011), Leslie Schellhaas (2013) and Lauren Rokey (2021 spring).
- Senior setter Bridget Bessler is the third setter in program history to reach 4,000+ career assists. She enters the tournament with 4,018 career handouts. Bessler is looking to become just the third player in program history to earn four consecutive First-Team All-Conference honors, joining Dayle Hamontree Harms and Olivia Lohmeier.
- Bessler owns the program record for OVC weekly awards. She earned 15 OVC Setter of the Week accolades in her career, eclipsing the 13 Offensive Player of the Week honors Olivia Lohmeier (two-time OVC Offensive Player of the Year) garnered.
- Bessler leads the conference in assists per set at 10.17. In addition, she recorded 15 double-doubles to lead the team. Bessler had an assist-dig double-double in 10 of the final 14 regular-season matches with two of those four seeing her total nine digs in the match.
- Morehead State finished the regular season ranked first in the league in kills (12.9/set) and assists (12.0/set). It's the fifth year in a row MSU has either led or ranked in the top two in the conference in kills and assists.
- Sophomore middle blocker Irene Wogenstahl set the program single-match block assists record with 13 against Southeast Missouri on Nov. 11. Wogenstahl enters the tournament with 111 total blocks, ranking fourth in the league in blocks per set (1.12). She managed to record 2+ blocks in 18 of the final 19 matches.
- Wogenstahl finished the regular-season ranked fifth in the OVC in hitting percentage at .289. She hit above .300 in seven of the final 10 matches.
- Abby Hulsman (3.01) and Maycie Welborn (2.83) both finished in the top 10 in the conference in kills per set. Hulsman will finish her career with 900+ career kills.
- Sydney Wyman closed the regular season with at least one block in 15 straight matches. She also recorded double-digit kills in nine of the final 15.
- With Bessler and Wogenstahl earning two of the final three weekly OVC awards, Morehead State has now earned 157 weekly honors (players of the week) in the program's existence (since 1989).
By: Matt Schabert, Morehead State Athletic Media Relations