Former teammates face off on Saturday

Junior+setter+Marah+Bradbury+and+freshman+middle+hitter+Allie+Hueston+attempt+a+block+against+Murray+State+on+Oct.+10+in+Lantz+Arena.++The+Panthers+lost+to+the+Racers+3-1.

Jason Howell

Junior setter Marah Bradbury and freshman middle hitter Allie Hueston attempt a block against Murray State on Oct. 10 in Lantz Arena. The Panthers lost to the Racers 3-1.

Blake Nash, Staff Reporter

This Saturday, former club volleyball teammates Allie Hueston and Madison Bergren will meet each other on the opposite side of the net, when Eastern battles Tennessee-Martin in an Ohio Valley Conference match.

Both were members of the Munciana Samurai Volleyball Club for the last four years and sometimes competed against each other during high school regular season action, despite both their schools being in different classes and conferences.

Hueston’s Alexandria-Monroe Tigers were in Class 2A, while Bergren’s Delta Eagles were 3A in Indiana.

“She was definitely a big asset for their team, and she was hard to read as well as a good setter,” Hueston said. “They had a very good team, and we struggled at times against them.”

Last season, Delta finished as runners-up in the Hoosier Heritage Conference and finished the year with a 30-5 overall record, and a sectional championship. Bergren represented the Eagles on the all-conference team and also garnered second team all-state honors, as well as all-county honors, her senior year.

Hueston also earned all-conference and county honors for the Tigers, during all four years of her high school career. She was also a two-time First Team All-State honoree, following her junior and senior seasons in 2013 and 2014.

The two met each other their freshman year, when they joined the Munciana club, and were close off the court, but Hueston said that has changed since they’re both a long way apart now.

“We were close in club play, but not as much now, since we’re both a long way apart,” Hueston said. “I don’t know if we’ll have time to meet on Saturday. I wouldn’t mind seeing her, but it’ll depend on whether we win or lose.”

New Player of the Week

Murray State’s Scottie Ingram was unsuccessful in her quest for a third straight OVC offensive player of the week award. Tennessee Tech’s Cody Dodd upended Ingram’s reign, earning the player of the week award, following a week in which she averaged 4.43 kills per set, as well as a total of nine service aces and blocks, apiece.

Against Eastern Kentucky on Friday, Dodd recorded her ninth double-double of the season with a team high 16 kills and 15 digs. She added three blocks and two service aces during the four-set loss.

She once again led her team with 15 kills in Saturday’s shutout of winless Morehead State. She posted a career-high seven service aces, eight digs and six blocks for the Golden Eagles, giving her a team-high 25 points that day.

Ingram had won the player of the week award three of the last four weeks, but was unsuccessful this week, despite recording 13 kills and seven digs in a shutout of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, and eight kills and six digs, in a four-set win of Eastern last weekend.

Morehead State finally wins

The nightmare of a winless season ended for the Morehead State Eagles Friday night. The Eagles defeated Jacksonville State, who is 7-3 in OVC play, in five sets for their first victory of the season.

The win ended a 22-match losing streak that dated back to last year’s NCAA tournament loss to the University of Illinois.

Junior attacker Hannah Sigala recorded a career-best 22 kills, and hit .312 on 43 attempts against the Gamecocks. Libero Hope Rillema led all players with 24 digs in the win, while senior Colby Cameron dished out a career-high 64 assists.

The Eagles have now won nine of their last 10 games against Jacksonville State.

Blake Nash can  be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].