Instant Peay Play: Exciting fall semester comes to an end for Governors athletics

By Chris Austin | December 4, 2017 |

Clarksville, TN – With the Austin Peay State University volleyball team seeing its season come to an end on December 1st, in the NCAA Tournament in a first-round loss to UCLA, it also marked the end of what should be remembered as one of the best overall fall semesters in recent APSU athletics history.

Both the volleyball and football teams set — or tied – their respective program’s record for wins in a single season, with the volleyball team finishing with its first 30-win season in program history, finishing at 30-6 overall, while football ending with an 8-4 win-loss record – tying the school record for wins, matching the mark set by the 1948, 1949, 1964 and 1977 teams.

Overall, the Governors posted an overall mark of 53-32-3 in the fall, good for a 61.9 winning percentage, compared to a 38-46-4 record (45.5-win percentage) in the fall of 2016.

This fall’s Govs volleyball team also became the first to win both the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and tournament titles in the same campaign, while football’s second-place finish in the OVC regular-season standing was its best outcome in conference play since tying for second-place in the 1980 season OVC standings.

The volleyball and football teams were also noticed on a national level with the volleyball team being ranked in the Volleymag.com Mid-Major Poll Top-20 all season long, with football was just outside of the Top-25 in both the FCS Coaches Poll and the STATS FCS Top-25 Poll.

The Govs football team did crack into the Top-25 in the Athlon Sports Power Rankings, finishing in 24th place in its final regular-season poll.

Both the football and volleyball teams also took home some of the OVC’s top honors for their efforts.

In volleyball, Ashley Slay was named OVC Offensive Player of the Year, while Kristen Stucker was named OVC Setter of the Year for the second straight season.

Both were also named to the All-OVC First-Team. Joining them with All-OVC honors were Christina White and Brooke Moore, who were both named Second-Team All-OVC.

For football, quarterback Jeremiah Oatsvall took home OVC Freshman of the Year honors, the first APSU player to be so named, while Jaison Williams, Gunnar Scholato (defense) and Kyran

Moore (specialist) were named All-OVC First-Team selections, while Oatsvall, Kyle Anderton and Ryan Rockensuess were named to the All-OVC Second-Team (offense).

Oatsvall, Anderson and Ahmaad Tanner were also selected to the All-OVC Newcomers Team.

Rounding out the fall semester highlights for APSU were cross country’s men’s and women’s teams coming away with meet titles during their regular season, with the pair picking up both wins at the Evansville Invitational, on October 14th, including Mathew Biwott posting the best time in the men’s race.

Overall, the men’s team finished the fall with four top-four finishes, with Biwott, Nash Young and Wesley Gray earning multiple Top-10 finishes during the season.

The women’s team finished in the Top-five three times, with Emmaculate Kiplagat running the best time at the APSU Invitational, on September 23rd, while Kiplagat, Caroline Kiplagat and Keleah Shell all posting at least two Top-10 finishes during the season.

Finally, the Govs soccer team ended their season with a winning record of 8-7-3, including a undefeated mark at home for the first time in the program’s history by going 7-0-2 at Morgan Brothers Soccer Field.

They also earned a spot in the OVC postseason tournament in back-to-back years for the first time since the 2012-13 seasons, while Kirstin Robertson was named to the All-OVC First Team and Morgan Drawdy to the All-OVC Second-Team and All-Newcomers Team.

Overall, not a bad fall for Governors athletics.

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