The All State

By DAVID SCHERER | Staff Writer

For the first time in 19 years the APSU Lady Govs Volleyball team captured the OVC championship. It was just the second time in the program’s history and followed a remarkable regular season marked with its ups and downs.

The Lady Govs entered the OVC tournament with the second seed and therefore were given a bye in the first round. In their semi-final match they easily defeated Tennessee Tech 3-1, and geared up for a rubber match against regular season champion Morehead State.

APSU got out to a fast start against Morehead but ended up losing the first set 23-25, making everyone wonder whether this Cinderella story would fold before their very eyes, but senior Sarah Alisaleh made sure that was never going to happen.

According to coach Haley Janicek, “Sarah did an incredible job of splitting up the offense. She ran a really effective system and spread the offense really well for our outsides to succeed. In an outside-dominated match our outsides (Sophomore Nikki Doyle and Junior Ilyanna Hernandez) really pulled through for us.”

The second set proved easier for the Lady Govs as Alisaleh guided the team to a 25-14 set victory. The third saw the Lady Govs fall behind yet again, but they were able to muster a 13-4 run to end the set and go ahead 2-1. Senior Taylor Skinner sealed the set with a kill.

APSU led the fourth set from beginning to end and capped the match victory with a 5-2 run. Morehead State lost in the championship match for the second consecutive year.

Janicek talked once again about the Lady Govs’ goal to just get better with each and every set. “To be honest the entire match is a blur. We’ve talked all season long about getting one percent better,” Janicek said. “We made a bunch of errors in the first set, a few too many errors for us to play consistent volleyball. That second and third set we nailed things down and got better the rest of the way. Most importantly we held our composure when things got rough on the court.”

The Lady Govs face Louisville this Saturday, Nov. 27, in Louisville., Ky. The Lady Cardinals advanced to the Big East tournament championship match for the sixth straight year Saturday, Nov. 20, with a four set victory over Marquette. TAS

By DAVID SCHERER | Staff Writer
This year has been one of the most successful in the history of the APSU Lady Govs volleyball team, and the team hopes to keep their run alive by winning the OVC tournament.

The weekend of Friday, Nov. 12, the Lady Govs wrapped up their regular season with a pair of sweeps, first Tennessee State on Friday and then SIU Edwardsville on Saturday, Nov. 13.

Both matches were displays of absolute dominance by the Lady Govs, beating Tennessee State handily on Friday 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-17) and following up with a very impressive performance against SIU Edwardsville, winning 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-15).

Against Tennessee State, the Lady Govs recognized their three seniors, Jessica Mollmann, Taylor Skinner and Sarah Alisaleh, before the match, but it proved to be a pair of juniors who led the Lady Govs to the victory.

Ilyanna Hernandez and Kayla Grantham finished with 15 and 9 kills respectively, and Hernandez led the Lady Govs with a .556 attack percentage. Tennessee State made it a contest at first but was unable to lead by more than a point the entire set.

APSU used an 8-4 run at the end of the set to close out the 25-21 victory.

After winning the first set, the Lady Govs never looked back, leading both the second and third sets in their entirety. They were able to capitalize on a pair of runs in the second to secure the 25-13 easy victory.

In the third, it was much of the same. APSU was able to build a 7-2 lead at the beginning and used an 8-2 run at the end to win the set 25-17 as well as the match.

The Lady Govs finished the match with 46 kills and only 8 errors in addition to 7 service aces and 6 blocks.

In the Saturday match against SIU Edwardsville, the Lady Govs were able to completely dominate all aspects of the match in route to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-15) sweep to end their regular season. The scores of the sets do not accurately reflect the dominance that the Lady Govs displayed in dispatching the Cougars.

Throughout the set, they were able to capitalize on the many mistakes made by the Cougars, most notably in the second set when they scored three straight points off of errors to take a 7-6 lead.

The seniors definitely came through in the clutch, but it was Sophomore Nikki Doyle’s night to shine as she recorded a career best .625 attack percentage. Hernandez and Mollman also contributed with 13 and 11 kills respectively.

The Lady Govs enter into OVC Tournament semifinal action at Morehead State, Friday, Nov. 19. Looking ahead, if the Lady Govs are able to win their semifinal match they will more than likely face Morehead, who the Lady Govs have beaten this season, in the championship. TAS

By DAVID SCHERER | Staff Writer
Whenever one thinks about APSU athletics, one always hear about the men’s and women’s basketball teams making it to the NCAA tournament, or about the football team coming so close to winning a game. A program that has pushed itself to the forefront in the past year, however, is the Lady Govs volleyball team.

Over the past three years, the Lady Govs have posted back-to-back-to-back 20-win campaigns and this year achieved the best record in over a decade at 24-6.

The most remarkable aspect of this dominating program is not the records or the players, but instead the constant turnover of the head coach position.

There have been three coaches in the past three years for the Lady Govs and the new kid on the block, head coach Haley Janicek, is making it known the Lady Govs are here to stay. Janicek played college volleyball in the WAC at Boise State University, and was the first person in the history of the conference to be a member of the All-Conference team in each of her four years.

Coach Janicek came to APSU last year and served as the assistant coach to Mike Johnson and played a key role in the Lady Govs’ resurgence and rise back to the top of the OVC. When Johnson left after the season for Mississippi State, Janicek was given the task of maintaining this remarkable run when she was chosen to become the next head coach for the Lady Govs. As we have all seen, she has done much more than that.

“These girls are very resilient. They have been through coach after coach and I can honestly say that they fought for me just as hard as they have fought for their other coaches. I really cannot thank the team enough. It is them who have put us in this position.”

This year, the Lady Govs have a realistic shot at winning the OVC and moving onto the NCAA tournament, and it can all be attributed to coach Janicek. She has provided the discipline as well as the skills needed to guide the Lady Govs to the second seed in the OVC.

When the Lady Govs suit up this weekend, they will all have their eyes set on the championship and a likely rubber match against Morehead State. They have beaten Morehead this year, 3-2 here at APSU and Janicek believes this will play a key role in shaping their mindset for the upcoming matches.

“Wins, as well as losses, teach the girls a lot. It shows them that they do have what it takes to come through in the clutch and perform when the season is on the line. They give them the confidence to go above and beyond, and to step up when they are needed.”

Assistant coach Evan Giglio has played a very important role in the team’s success this year as well, according to Janicek.

“Evan has been the testosterone, we are all emotional and tend to get worked up from time to time but Evan has done an incredible job at keeping the goal in our minds and helping us focus. He runs the blocking drills every week and scouts out the opposing teams tendencies, which have been invaluable to us as well.”

For the future, Janicek hopes to continue to grow as a team, and eventually the rewards will come.

“Short term, I want us to just continue to get better each and every match. We’re about to go to the OVC tournament, and I want us to get better in the semi-final game so that we will be on the top of our game come the championship. Long term, I definitely want an OVC ring. Not for me, but for the girls. They put in such an incredible effort and they definitely deserve it.”
Coach Janicek could be another Lady Govs coach a team is looking for to add more winning experience to a team. TAS

By DAVID SCHERER | Staff Writer

The Lady Govs volleyball team completed their last road trip of the season the weekend of Friday, Nov. 5, with a pair of wins at Eastern Illinois and Southeast Missouri.

With the first win, they were able to clinch second place in the OVC and secured a bye in the first round of the OVC Championship Tourney.

This is the second year the Lady Govs finished the regular season in second place.

In the first match of the weekend, the Lady Govs had a rusty start but were able to shake it off and come away with a four set win (17-25, 25-19, 25-21, 26-24). Eastern Illinois scared the Lady Govs at first, displaying dominance that has been lacking all season, and captured the first set 25-17, courtesy of a pair of consecutive aces.

The Panthers came out sluggish in the second set, fell behind 8-0 early and were unable to overcome the large deficit and fell 25-19. The Lady Govs led wire-to-wire helped by five EIU errors.

In the third, both teams fought hard with 10 ties and two lead changes. The Lady Govs were unable to gain a strong lead until a 3-1 run late in the set left them with a 24-20 lead.

Senior Jessica Mollman came through in the clutch, coming away with a kill for the set point.

The Lady Govs came out strong yet again in the fourth set, opening with a 6-0 lead, and eventually leading by 18-8. Eastern Illinois was not going to go away without a fight, and utilized a 15-5 run to storm back and tie the set at 23-23.

Senior Sarah Alisaleh and sophomore Nikki Doyle came through in the clutch and won the match with consecutive kills.

In the second match of the road trip, the Lady Govs completely dominated Southeast Missouri, trailing only once in the entire match.

SEMO tried to stick close to the Lady Govs, trailing by a maximum of seven points, but were unable to capitalize on any APSU mistakes. APSU won the match comfortably in three sets (25-22, 25-21, 25-18).

The Lady Govs return home this weekend to close out their consecutive 20-win regular season with a 7 p.m. match on Friday, Nov. 12, against Tennessee State and a 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, contest against SIU Edwardsville. APSU defeated both teams this season. TAS

Lady Govs post 2nd 20-win season

By DAVID SCHERER | Staff Writer

In her best match of the season, senior Jessica Mollman recorded 20 points as the Lady Govs volleyball team was able to record a four set victory over Jacksonville State Friday, Oct. 29, in the Dunn Center.

Jacksonville State was able to open the match with a hard fought first set win which had eight lead changes and 14 ties.

Neither of the two teams led by more than three points but in the end the Gamecocks were able to notch four kills at the end and win the set.

The next two sets featured APSU’s nationally ranked service game, currently third nationally with service aces, where the Lady Govs were able to add 13 more to their total. In both sets they were able to lead wire-to-wire.

According to APSU Sports Information, Coach Haley Janicek believed this pattern is key to not only the present but the future as well.

“I believe the entire season we’ve seen a trend that we’re really successful when we serve well. The first thing we addressed is going after it behind the line, especially when the other team is passing well against us. We made that adjustment really quick and it paid off.”

On Saturday, Oct. 30, the Lady Govs were able to record their third consecutive 20 win campaign by defeating Tennessee Tech in three sets.

APSU completely dominated the first two sets, taking the lead for good in the first at 6-5 and leading the second wire to wire.

Mollman had another very impressive day, recording a .421 attack percentage in addition to 10 kills, five blocks and two service aces. It was her third straight match with 10 kills or more. Sophomore Nikki Doyle also was a key cog in the Lady Govs machine and recorded 10 kills herself.

The Lady Govs only needed 43 kills to win the match, and finished with a .269 attack percentage. This 20-win season marks their third straight.

The most remarkable thing about this short streak is the fact that they have been able to do it all under different coaches.

This weekend marks the final road weekend of the regular season for the Lady Govs when the Lady Govs visit Eastern Illinois at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6. TAS

By DAVID SCHERER | Staff Writer

This weekend the Lady Govs volleyball team overcame a slow start to defeat the Murray State Lady 3-2 (18-25, 25-17, 25-20, 16-25, 15-13). The victory propelled the Lady Govs to second place in the OVC and put them in place to receive a bye in the first round of OVC Tourney.

In the first set of the match the Racers opened with a wire-to-wire win. The Lady Govs provided a valiant defense in the middle of the set tieing it at 15-15, but the Racers attack proved to be too much and APSU conceded 5 straight points to end the set.

The Lady Govs were able to win both the second and third sets, but waited until late in them both to take control. Trailing 8-5 in the second set they used a 5 point run to take a 10-8 lead. They then used multiple small runs to take a 20-15 lead, and finished the Racers with a pair of aces by senior Jessica Mollman and sophomore Nikki Doyle.

In the third set neither side was able to assume control, with the two teams trading the lead eight times and tieing 11 more, but a 5-1 run was exactly what the Lady Govs needed to assume a 23-19 lead. Senior Sarah Alisaleh finished the Racers for APSU with a service ace to close the set.

The fourth set saw the Racers battle back in the face of defeat. They were able to utilize a 9-3 run to convert a 9-9 tie into an 18-12 lead. The finished the set with a 7-4 run and tied the match 2-2.

The decisive set proved to be just as exciting as the middle sets with the teams trading the lead 5 times and tieing it 9 more. Murray was down 13-11, with defeat staring them down, and battled back to tie the set 13-13 utilizing a service error as well as a kill. In the end though Doyle came through again as she so often has this year scoring a kill and then winning the match with a service ace.

Doyle led the team once again with 13 kills and 3 service aces. Junior Ilyanna Hernandez also added 12 kills and the Lady Govs finished with 10 service aces.

The Lady Govs stay at home to face OVC foe, Jacksonville State, Friday, Oct. 29 and Tennessee Tech Saturday, Oct. 30. TAS