It was the weekend of sweeps for the Lady Govs as they took care of the Eastern Illinois Panthers and Southeast Missouri Redhawks with 3-0 victories. On Friday, Oct. 23, the Lady Govs had no trouble on the offensive against the Panthers with 47 kills among eight players.

The beginning of the first set consisted of APSU trading kills with EIU, but when the Lady Govs reached the ninth kill, the offense turned up. APSU would not let EIU score another point until the score was 14-10.

This could be credited to the defense pressure that APSU produced with five blocks by senior Kirstin Distler.

Even though the Panthers started to improve, it was not enough to match the scoring tear by the Lady Govs, winning the set, 25-19.

The Lady Govs defense allowed the Panthers a good first set, but then eight different players got a kill in the victories of the second and third set to seal the win, 25-14 and 25-15, respectively.

Saturday, Oct. 24, was similar for APSU against SEMO, as they posted 52 kills and a .288 attack percentage in the sweep of the Redhawks.

Senior Stephanie Champine led the team, keeping the SEMO defense busy with her 22 kills and .419 attack percentage.

Distler added another accolade to her shelf when she became only the ninth Lady Gov to record 1,000 kills, but the sixth APSU player to be a part of the double grand club with 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.

According to APSU Sports Information, coach Mike Johnson was proud of the efforts Distler is achieving.

“She’s here when the program wasn’t really great her freshman year, and it’s developed to being okay now. She’s had a huge part of that. It’s a tremendous accomplishment,” Johnson said.

Mike Johnson is the new head coach for the Lady Govs volleyball team. He was hired last year to fill the shoes of Jenny Hazelwood, who left the team to coach her alma mater, Mississippi State.

After his most recent job as associate coach of the Cal-Polytechnic University Mustangs, he has led his new Lady Gov volleyball team to a 13-5 overall record.

The All State: What is the most exciting thing about APSU so far?

Mike Johnson: “The commitment these girls have made. I still feel like a relatively young coach compared to how old a coach I will be one day.

I asked these girls how hard are they willing to work and they said we’re willing to do anything and whatever it takes because we believe we can win this thing. They have done that.

They are a hard working bunch, and it’s made my job a whole lot easier.”

TAS: How was your transition from Cal-Polytechnic University to APSU been?

MJ: As far as the size of the athletic department, very similar. Financially, close.

So just as far as running a team being around the program, being around girls, it was an easy, smooth transition. You can probably imagine that living on the beaches of California is a little different than living in the hills of Tennessee.

TAS: Looking at your profile, your track record is very rich in success with Cal-Poly and Washington University. Do you expect to land some top recruits like at these programs, or is it a work in progress?

MJ: I think it’s relative to say to top. At my first recruiting class at Washington, it was ranked the sixth best recruiting class in the country.

My last class that we just had at Cal-Poly was ranked the ninth best in the country. I think the Cal-Poly was harder to get because they didn’t just come off a Final Four experience.

I don’t know if we’re going to be out recruiting Penn State or Nebraska kids yet. With that said, we’ve already got some commitments from some really good kids. They are going to be freshmen like anyone else, but there are some athletes. I’m looking forward to it.

TAS: How have seniors Stephanie Champine and Kirstin Distler helped lead APSU to a booming start this season?

MJ: Well, Champ and Distler, to start, are really good players. I don’t have a huge ego about the number of wins we have, in part, because I inherited a good team.

I think Champ hits as hard as anyone out there. I think they are both good enough to play any school. They just got overlooked because they are 5’8’’ and 5’9’’. They have done a tremendous job on the court and they both lead by example. They are both, arguably, our hardest workers on defense. I think the girls see them and want to play like them.

TAS: What changes have you brought to APSU?

MJ: Systematically, we play differently than APSU played a year ago. The best analogy I can give you is that if this was college football and I inherited an option team and we’re running the west coast offense. It’s just a different offense.

We play a lot faster, and we pride ourselves on speed. Because we are not the biggest, we are just going to have to be faster. We’re much quicker this year, much more aggressive, and we take more risks serving the ball and blocking. So, systematically we push the tempo a lot.

TAS: What inspirations drew you to volleyball?

MJ: For me, it’s not as much about volleyball as it is about teaching. I’ve always just loved teaching. I loved teaching when I was little kid.

I coached my first team when I was 16 years old; I coached my brother’s baseball team. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I didn’t really know I wanted to be a volleyball coach until I was one. I just got lucky.

I walked into the coach’s office at Washington and they offered me a job and I hadn’t even applied. I was really fortunate; I learned a lot and I had great mentors in Jim McLaughlin at Washington University and Jon Stevenson at Cal-Poly.

It’s not just about wins and losses, it’s about being around these girls. I just love watching them improve.

TAS: Is there anything that motivates you before a game, anything you read or listen to?

MJ: I really enjoy reading, in general, what other great coaches and leaders are doing. I feel like I’m always trying to get better and seeing if I can draw comparisons to our own team. Before a game, I usually try to be as relaxed as possible. We don’t do a lot of “rah-rah” speeches; we don’t do the “win one for the gipper” talk. For me, it’s just all about if we prepare ourselves in practice and we come ready to play with the will to win, we will be successful.

TAS: Is there any coach or person you look up to?

MJ: There are three influential people. My very first mentor, Jim McLaughlin at Washington, has taught me so much I learned a lot about volleyball and teaching. I still call him to this day to ask for advice.

Jon Stevenson, who I worked for at Cal-Poly, had a will to win like nobody else. It rubbed off on his team and I only studied what he did and how he motivated people.
The guy who I perhaps admire the most is John Wooten. I just read his stuff and I feel like I’m drinking pure and simple sense every time I listen or read something Wooten says.

The APSU Lady Govs volleyball team began their four-match road trip with a sweep of Tennessee State Tigers 3-0 (26-24, 25-13, 25-22) Friday, Oct. 9, in Ohio Valley Conference action.

The Lady Govs improve to 13-5 overall and 7-1 in OVC action, while Tennessee State drops to 2-16 overall and 1-6 in the conference slate.

APSU trailed early in the first two sets, no more than one point jumping out to a six point lead before Tennessee State would rally back to tie the set 24-24.

Stephanie Champine would break the tie with one of her kills, and Paige Economos would serve an ace to finish the set.

The second set was all APSU, which was capped off on an 11-3 run to end it 25-13.

APSU and Tennessee State battled a tough third set. While APSU would not lead by any point more than three points, the match finished on a kill by Kristin Distler to win, 25-22.

Champine had match-high 14 kills on 42 attacks and a .214 attack percentage, while Distler chipped in 10 kills on 21 attempts and a .381 attack percentage. APSU finished with 46 kills as a team and committed only 11 errors for a .271 attack percentage.

The Lady Tigers did not have one player reach double digit kills and recorded only 35 kills with 18 errors and a .130 attack percentage.

APSU will take a seven-day break before going on the road to Murray State on Friday, Oct. 16, with a 7p.m. tip-off.

Then Saturday, Oct. 17, APSU will go on the road to play Tennessee Martin in conference action with a 2 p.m. tip-off.

Coming into the match, both APSU and Jacksonville State were the final two unbeaten teams in conference and both were riding a winning streak.

In a hard-fought match, Jacksonville State prevailed, winning 3-2 (25-13, 19-25, 25-18, 19-25, 15-11) over the Lady Govs at the Dunn Center.

A win would have given APSU sole possession of first place in the conference standings as well as extend their best start in conference play in school history.

“There are never any excuses, as I told the girls,” APSU coach Mike Johnson said. “We’ve played a tough schedule, with five matches in our last nine days and [Jacksonville State] probably our toughest opponent in that time.”

The match didn’t start for the Lady Govs (11-5, 5-1) as planned. Jacksonville State (13-5, 7-0) scored seven consecutive points to build a six-point lead that allowed them to take the first set to lead the match 1-0.

“It would have been easy to roll over after that first set,” Johnson said. “We didn’t. The girls kept fighting. I’m proud of them.”

The Lady Govs fought back, taking a 14-4 run that saw six service aces to even the score 1-1.

Jacksonville State again traded blows with the Lady Govs taking the third set behind six kills from their senior outside hitter, Brittney Whitten.

The fourth set was the best for the Lady Govs, in which they earned 15 kills, led by Ilyanna Hernandez, who had six kills. Stephanie Champine also chipped in for kills to even the match at 2-2.

In the final set, the Lady Govs stumbled, giving up six errors as a team with five errors from Champine to only seven kills by the entire team.

“If a couple of different calls go our way, or we had gotten a couple of breaks in the fifth set, we’re all smiles right now,” Johnson said.

Champine, the current OVC Player of the Week, recorded double-digit kills (15) for the 12th consecutive match but had season-high 10 errors. Kirstin Distler and Hernandez also chipped in 15 kills each. Paige Economos had 21 digs in the loss. The Lady Govs, as a team, had 20 errors its most since a 26-error match against Loyola (Ill.) on Sept. 12, the Lady Govs’ last loss.

“Jacksonville State game-planned to stop Champine, and when that happens, (Kirstin) Distler and Hernandez are open,” Johnson said. “We’ll see this team again.”

The Lady Govs will go on the road Friday, Oct. 9, to face Tennessee State with a 7 p.m. serve.