EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The University of Tennessee at Martin volleyball team hit .211 as a team this afternoon but dropped a three-set decision (24-26, 17-25, 21-25) at Ohio Valley Conference Southern Indiana.
The Skyhawks wrap up the 2023 campaign with an 8-20 record and 6-12 mark against OVC competition.
Jenna Vallée was the offensive leader for UT Martin today, posting 12 kills on a smoking .500 hitting percentage (just two errors in 20 attempts). Olivia Saunders and Mia Saenz each hit .333 while following with eight and seven kills, respectively.
Haeleigh Paulino handed out 30 of the team’s 34 assists today while directing a Skyhawk offense that registered their fourth-highest attack percentage in OVC play this fall.
Defensively, Dylan Mott tallied a team-best 12 digs while Kayla Carrell (eight), Paulino (six) and Addy Vaughn (six) also heavily contributed to a UT Martin squad that combined for 44 digs.
Shades of last night’s back-and-forth affair carried over into today’s opening set as the first stanza had 14 ties and four lead changes. The Screaming Eagles (14-15, 10-8 OVC) took a 6-1 advantage but the Skyhawks clawed all the way back to take their first lead at 19-18. Facing set point, Vallée earned back-to-back kills to even the score at 24-all but Southern Indiana responded right back with two straight points to claim a 1-0 edge in the match. Vallée accounted for seven kills with no errors in 10 attempts in the opening set.
The Screaming Eagles scored five of the first seven points in the middle set but UT Martin came back to tie the score at 8-8 following a Saunders kill. Southern Indiana then went on a 7-2 run but back-to-back Vallée kills pulled the Skyhawks within three points soon thereafter. Saunders later added a pair of kills to keep UT Martin’s deficit at three points (19-16) but the Screaming Eagles wrapped up the set with six of the last seven points.
Kills by Ryan Rednour and Paulino helped the Skyhawks roll out to a 4-1 lead in the third stanza. UT Martin led by a 9-6 margin before a 7-2 Southern Indiana run gave the Screaming Eagles their first lead of the set. Saenz slammed down a kill to flip the score in favor of the Skyhawks at 20-19 but Southern Indiana closed out the sweep with a 6-1 run down the stretch. Saenz was responsible for five kills against just one miscue in eight attempts (.500 hitting percentage) in the final set.
Today marked the final collegiate matches for UT Martin graduates/seniors Carrell, Zoe Merriweather, Paulino, Rednour and Saunders. Carrell became just the 13th player in school history to accumulate 1,000 career digs when she accomplished that feat last night. Merriweather wraps up her career ranking 10th all-time with a 1.01 blocks per set average. Paulino ranks fifth all-time in service aces (118) and sixth in assists (2,256) while Saunders’ .267 career hitting percentage is good enough for fifth place in the Skyhawk record book.
