Clarksville, TN – Mikayla Powell led the Austin Peay State University (APSU) volleyball team with 13 kills and a .344 attack percentage; however, the Governors dropped a three-set (13-25, 19-25, 18-25) decision to Indiana in the Stacheville Challenge finale, Saturday, at the Winfield Dunn Center.
Powell led Austin Peay State University in kills for the sixth time this season, while Kelsey Mead’s 23 assists marked the eighth time in nine matches the Tallahassee, Florida native has paced the team.
Powell led Austin Peay State University with five kills and no errors on 10 swings in the opening frame, but Austin Peay (6-3) was unable to overcome seven-straight Indiana (5-3) points to open the match coupled with a .429 Hoosiers’ attack percentage.
Karli Graham led APSU with a quartet of kills in the second set, while Mead had eight assists for the second-straight set in a penultimate set that featured a pair of lead changes and five ties.
The Govs and Hoosiers split the first 18 points of the set with three straight IU errors forcing it to call a timeout. Indiana scored seven straight points following the timeout, bringing up a Govs timeout. After the break, Austin Peay State University went on an 8-2 to trim its deficit to two. APSU was unable to complete the late comeback, however, following a trio of late errors that resulted in the Hoosiers extending their lead following a 25-19 second-set win.
The APSU Govs took their first lead of the third set after claiming two of the first three points and held a 12-11 advantage following an Indiana timeout. The Hoosiers went on a 6-2 run to regain the advantage and held the lead for the remainder of the set, clinching the win.
After continuing their career years, Powell and Mead were both named to the Stacheville Challenge All-Tournament Team following Saturday’s match.
Mead led the APSU Govs with 67 assists –9.5 per set – in the Govs’ matches, while also tallying 17 digs, six blocks, and five kills. Powell finished her run in the Govs’ home tournament with 23 kills, 14 digs, six blocks in addition to a .205 attack percentage.
Set-By-Set Synopsis
- Indiana jumped out to a 7-0 lead to open the match before Mikayla Powell tallied the Governors first kill to halt the Hoosiers run. Austin Peay State University answered a 19-8 IU lead with a 4-1 run to cut into its deficit, but Indiana answered with a 6-1 scoring streak to win the first set, 25-13.
- Austin Peay State University took its first lead of the match after tallying two of the first three points in the frame. The Hoosiers went on to take a 7-4 advantage, but a 5-2 APSU scoring run brought the two sides back to even at nine and forced an Indiana timeout. The Hoosiers scored seven-straight points after the break and forced an APSU timeout. The Govs went on an 8-3 courtesy of a trio of Mikayla Powell kills to cut Indiana’s lead to 19-17 late. The Hoosiers won the second frame, 25-19, after taking advantage of a pair of late APSU attacking errors.
- The Governors took their largest lead of the match with a 9-6 third-set advantage, but the Hoosiers regained the lead later in the set, going up 12-11 and forcing the APSU timeout. After scoring three-straight points prior to the timeout, the Hoosiers added another pair of scores, and four of the next six, to take an 18-13 late lead. Indiana held momentum throughout the end of the final frame and clinched the 3-0 victory following a 25-18 third-set victory.
Stacheville Challenge All-Tournament Team
(MVP) Kaley Rammelsberg, Indiana
Camryn Haworth, Indiana
Mady Saris, Indiana
Kelsey Mead, Austin Peay
Mikayla Powell, Austin Peay
Mallory Januski, Valparaiso
Miranda Strongman, Valparaiso
Jessie Seidel, Lindenwood
