It was a pretty good opening weekend for the Austin Peay volleyall team. Senior Ashley Slay finished with 19 kills and sophomore Ginny Gerig notched a season-best 28 digs, but the APSU volleyball team dropped a four-set decision (19-25, 23-25, 28-26, 12-25) to Northern Iowa, Sunday afternoon in the final match of the Culvers Governors Challenge at the Dunn Center.
In a matchup of the tournament’s only two unbeaten teams entering the day, Austin Peay (3-1) broke out to big leads in each of the first three sets. Northern Iowa (3-0) would file a response in each case and slipped past the Govs in the first two sets. However, Austin Peay fended off the challenge en route to winning the third set. The Panthers, who advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season, led the final set wire-to-wire.
Slay’s 19-kill outing saw her open the match with seven kills in the first set and finish the match with a .308 attack percentage and three blocks. Gerig added a kill and two assists to her 28-dig performance. UNI’s Karlie Taylor earned all-tournament honors after a 21-kill, 14-dig performance against the Govs. Thomas was named the tournament’s “Most Valuable Player” after a 16-kill, six block outing in Sunday’s finale.
Austin Peay now prepares to start a nine-match road trip, which begins with the UAB Invitational, September 1-2. The Govs will face Georgia State, host UAB and Western Illinois in the round-robin event.
(Courtesy APSU Athletics)