The UTM volleyball broke its winless streak this past weekend at the Western Kentucky University (WKU) tournament where it went one-for-three.

The Skyhawks started the weekend tournament at WKU with a win against James Madison University. Leigh Reiniche, a junior, from Bourbonnais, Ill., led the Skyhawks with 20 kills. Senior Heather Kea was right behind her with 15 kills. Jamie Fitzwater had 11 kills and Mandy Krol finished with 12 kills. “We fought hard throughout the match,” said UTM head volleyball coach Chris Rushing. “We were down 7-1 in game five and we could have given up but we fought to the finish and got our first win.”

The Skyhawks lost their second match of the tournament to Toledo, 3-1. Reiniche led the team with 22 kills and Fitzwater had 10 kills. Sophomore Rebecca Palmer had a good defensive game with 12 digs.

The third match against Western Kentucky resulted in 3-0 loss. Kea had a good all-around game with 14 digs and nine kills. Fitzwater led the Skyhawks with 10 kills and Reiniche had nine kills.

“We didn’t have Maribeth (Hanneman) on Saturday,” Rushing said. “Losing her threw us off, but we sat her out mostly because we need her for Tuesday.”

Hanneman was sidelined with patella tendonitis.

Reiniche was the only player from UTM to make the all-tournament team this weekend. Reiniche had 51 kills this weekend giving her a .395 overall hitting percentage this season.

“Leigh was awesome this weekend. She played to her full potential,” Rushing said.

On Tuesday, however, UTM was denied its first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season at Murray State.

Murray State won 3-0 (30-24, 30-28, 30-28) to improve its overall record to 3-4. Murray State was the coaches’ pick to win the conference this season.

UTM junior Leigh Reiniche led the Skyhawks offensively and defensively with 16 kills and 14 digs. Senior Heather Kea added offensively with 11 kills and 10 digs. Freshman Mandy Krol had eight kills for the night and Rebecca Palmer had six kills.

The volleyball team struggled to find any offensive rhythm against visiting Arkansas State Indians Thursday night. That struggle caused the Skyhawks to drop a 3-0 decision to Indians.

With the setback, the Skyhawks fall to 1-12 while Arkansas State improves to 11-3.

Arkansas State won game one 30-19, game two 30-23 and game three 30-22.

The Skyhawks, playing without the services of junior setter Maribeth Hanneman, were led by freshman hitter Mandy Krol who hit .667 in the match. Krol hit .400 in the Skyhawks’ two matches this week.

“Right now freshman Mandy Krol is showing us how to get the job done,” said Chris Rushing, the Skyhawk head volleyball coach. “She is the only positive we had tonight against Arkansas State.”

Rushing said part of the reason for the lack of offense was the absence of Hanneman. “We wanted to take our time and work Trish (Schroeder) into the setter position, but we have had to throw her into the fire because of recent injuries and illnesses.”

Schroeder, from Darien, Ill., has only been setting since August. “She has no experience,” Rushing said. Yet, Schroeder recorded 21 assists in the three-game match against Arkansas State.

“It’s rough to play a match they way we did tonight after we played so well two nights ago against Murray State,” Rushing said.

The Skyhawks will have to rebound from the two losses this week and get ready for visiting Evansville Tuesday, Sept. 23. The first serve is set for 7 p.m. in Skyhawk Fieldhouse.