Last season’s third-and-fourth-place finishers in the OVC, Morehead State and Jacksonville State, find themselves in first and second place with six conference matches in the books.

Both teams hold conference records of 5-1 so far, pulling ahead after being in a five-way tie atop the standings last week.

Austin Peay was one of those five teams before losing a pair of matches last weekend, including a 3-1 loss to Morehead State Oct. 12.

The Governors are now 3-3 and sit in seventh place. Surrounding them are seven other OVC teams that are within one game of .500. Four of them are 4-2 and three are 2-4.

Belmont (2-19, 1-5) and Eastern (1-17, 0-6) are the two outliers on the bottom of the standings.

With approximately one month remaining in conference play, the middle of the standings will likely to shift a great deal before the conference tournament.

Last season, a 7-9 OVC record was good enough to earn a spot in the conference tournament. So far in 2019, the standings are shaping up similarly.

It is still early enough that anything can change. Even Belmont and Eastern are still alive in the playoff race.

The statistical ratings in the OVC are similar to the standings, especially at the top.

Morehead State and Jacksonville State inhabit the top two spots in kills, assists and hitting percentage this season, with Jacksonville State leading in kills and hitting percentage and Morehead State leading in assists.

Eastern’s highest ranking is in blocks, where the Panthers rank seventh with 1.92 blocks per set. They are last in kills, assists and hitting percentage.

Individually, it is of no surprise that Murray State’s Rachel Giustino and Morehead State’s Olivia Lohmeier continue to dominate the field in kills and points per set.

Giustino is averaging over half a kill and half a point per set above Lohmeier, 5.38 to 4.81 and 5.79 to 5.27 respectively.

Lohmeier is averaging almost an entire point per set above third place, Jacksonville State’s Lena Kindermann.

Giustino and Lohmeier have been far and away the most effective offensive players in the conference for the entirety of the season.

Kindermann has led the OVC in hitting percentage for much of the season as well, hitting .356 in 64 sets.

Maggie Runge continues to hit efficiently for Eastern. The senior is hitting .302, which is the fifth-best percentage in the conference. She is one of only six players in the OVC to hit over .300 this season.

Eastern libero Madison Cunningham has dropped a few spots in recent weeks, but she still ranks eighth in the conference with 4.15 digs per set.

Another Panther to drop slightly is sophomore setter Bailey Chandler. She is still one of eight setters averaging more than eight assists per set, ranking seventh with an average of 8.24.

Eastern plays at home against Tennessee Tech Friday at 6 p.m. and Jacksonville State Saturday at 2 p.m.

A potentially important matchup will take place Friday at 5 p.m. when third-place Southeast Missouri hosts Morehead State.

Adam Tumino can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].