The Missouri Western volleyball team fell in a five set thriller on Friday evening to the Emporia State Hornets (23-25, 25-15, 17-25, 25-22 and 15-11) in the first match of pink week. Western fell for the first time at home as they fall to 12-12 overall and 5-6 in MIAA action.
The Griffons played the first first 26 points to a 13 all tie after a Hannah Zimmerman kill. Zimmerman had seven of the Griffons 17 kills in set one. Western closed the set winning 12 of the final 20 points earning the 25-23 victory. Western hit .250 with just four errors in the set. Stephanie Hattey picked up 13 assists and 10 digs in the first set for Western.
Set two belonged to the Hornets as they used an 11-1 run taking a 17-7 lead. Western cut the lead to 18-13 but ESU closed on a 7-2 run claiming the 25-15 victory evening the match at one apiece. Western had just eight kills hitting .028 in the set.
Western came out in set three on fire matching the Hornets point by point. The Griffons closed the set on a 14-6 run claiming the set 25-17 taking a 2-1 lead in the match. Set four would be another competitive set as Western took an early 12-9 lead after an ESU attack error. ESU regained control going on an 8-2 run claiming a 17-14 lead.
Western calmed down tying the score at 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22. With the score tied at 22 the Hornets scored the last three points taking the 25-22 victory forcing a fifth set.
The fifth and final set went back and forth but once again the Hornets closed outscoring the Griffons 6-3 taking the set 15-11 and the match 3-2.
Western had 59 kills in 172 attacks for a percentage of .186. Five Griffons had 10 or more kills with Johnston and Zimmerman recording 15 and 14 respectively. Hattey finished with 46 of the Griffons 55 set assists. She also had a career best 31 digs.
The Hornets improve to 16-8 overall and 8-3 in MIAA play. They had 63 kills with Katie Deutschmann led the way with 13. Amanda Gerety had 35 set assists while Meg Schwatz finished with 29 digs.
The Griffons play their final match of their four match home stand on Saturday, October 29 when they take on the 5th ranked Washburn Lady Blues. Match time is set for 1:00 pm from the MWSU Fieldhouse.
— MWSU Sports Information —