Missouri Western fought hard until the end but dropped a 15-11 final set to Central Oklahoma and lost 3-2 Saturday evening. MWSU is now 11-11 and 4-4 in the MIAA. The Bronchos advance to 16-5 and 6-3 in the conference.
Kelly Scannell had continued her impressive assist streak. She recorded 67 assists to set a career high and the most assists since Madison Benton had 69 on Nov. 6, 2009 in a match against Nebraska-Omaha. It was only eight shy of the Griffon all-time record. That gives her 496 assists in 19 matches with seven starts.
The Griffons opened up the match with an opening set victory.
Neither team lead by more than two early on until the Bronchos put together a steady run to take a 14-9 lead. The Griffons returned the run as Erica Rottinghaus added a kill to make it 15-13. The Bronchos extended their lead to 21-14 and looked to win the set.
But the Griffons came back furiously.
Helped by a couple attack errors, Erin Backhuus, Kelsey Olion and Amanda Boender all had kills to bring the Griffons back to tie the match at 23. Two more points were added in favor of the Griffons as they ended the set with an 11-2 run for the 1-0 lead.
The Bronchos won the second set 25-19, leading the whole way to tie the match a 1 apiece. The Griffons came back and won the third set 25-18.
Tied at 14, the Griffons began to make their run. Olion and Rottinghaus put together four straight kills to open up their lead. Ahead 22-17, Olion scored three more kills to win the set 25-18.
The fourth set was the closest of the match. Neither team could separate itself by much as the match was tied at 23. The Bronchos score two consecutive points, however, and kept the Griffons from leaving Edmond with the win and sending it to the final set.
A 15-11 fifth-set win gave Central Oklahoma the 3-2 victory.
Kelly Scannell had a team-high, season-high and career-high 67 assists. Sarah Fauble led the team with 19 digs. Olion and Rottinghaus continued to be two outstanding offensive players on the team, accumulating 22 kills each for the team high.
The Griffons next head to Nebraksa to play Kearney-Nebraska Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
— MWSU Sports Information —