COLORADO SPRINGS  – The Missouri Western volleyball team opened the Steel and Silver Classic with two wins Friday as they’ve won four consecutive games after starting 0-2.

Missouri Western picked up a five-set win Friday morning over previously unbeaten Tarleton State and swept winless Adams State in the afternoon. The team will play two more matches on Saturday at the event, facing Texas Women’s at 10 a.m. and Eastern New Mexico at 3 p.m.

MWSU 3, Tarleton State 2
Jessie Thorup matched a career-high with 25 kills as the Griffons rallied after falling behind two sets to one. Missouri Western held off a Tarleton State rally late in the fourth set to force the fifth. After four close, back-and-forth sets, the two teams were tied at 10 in the fifth set before MWSU scored five straight to take the match.

Thorup hit .304 in the match and added nine digs to her 25 kills. Rchel Friedrichs finished with 11 kills, three block assists and three digs. Blair Russell had 10 kills and five digs. Jordan Chohon finished with 54 assists and 10 digs. Kayla Ruff led the Griffons with 18 digs, while Audrey Keim added 13.

MWSU 3, Adams State 0
The Griffons didn’t have the most efficient offensive performance but spread the attack across their offense while forcing Adams State into 29 attack errors and holding the Grizzlies to an -.044 hitting percentage.

Thorup led the team again but stayed under double-digits in kills, adding nine. Lindsey Partridge and Shellby Taylor each had seven kills. Partridge and Thorup added five blocks each as did Ashley Mainord. Ruff had her second 18-dig performance of the day and Keim picked up 16 more of her own.

— MWSU Athletics —

BEMIDJI, Minn. – The Missouri Western women’s soccer team was ubable to match a program best 3-0 start as they lost to Bemidji State 1-0 in the second overtime.  The Griffons are 2-1 now on the season.

Christine Szurek’s goal from the top left corner of the box in the 105th minute gave the Beavers the win and MWSU its first loss of 2015. For the first time this season, Missouri Western was outshot, including zero shots in either of the overtime periods. For the match, Bemidji State had an 11-5 shot advantage and a 5-0 corner kick advantage.

Sarah Lyle had eight saves in goal for the Griffons. Katie Kempf took two of the team’s shots with Bailey Dervin, Sydney Adnrews and Bridget Blessie adding the other three.

Western stays in Minnesota this weekend with a Sunday match at Minnesota-Crookston at noon.

— MWSU Athletics —

OLATHE, Kan. – The Missouri Western women’s golf team finished sixth place out of 19 teams at the Central Region Fall Preview. MWSU finished the tournament with a team score of 638 over the two days. The Griffons started the day in fourth place but fell below Henderson St. and Arkansas Tech in the standings after day two.

Shi Quing Ong was the Griffons top golfer in her first collegiate golf competition, finishing with a total score of 154. She finished 10-over par and placed tied for 13th in the tournament. Celine Lim finished second on the team with a score of 158 which tied her for 23rd individually. Madison Romjue and Jenna Kosmatka tallied a 161 and 166 respectively for the tournament.

Augustana College held the lead throughout the tournament and finished with a team score of 599. Northeastern St. earned a second place finish with a 605 team score and Arkansas Tech jumped four spots in the second day, finishing third with a 617.

Central Oklahoma’s Marla Souvannasing and Augustana’s Emily Israelson finished tied for the individual lead with a 144 score.

Missouri Western will travel to compete in the 17th Annual NSU Women’s Golf Classic at the Cherokee Springs Golf Course on Monday, September 14 and 15.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Missouri Western women’s soccer team moved to 2-0 on the season, beating Harding University 2-1 Sunday afternoon inside Spratt Stadium.

Offensively, the Griffons produced 23 total shots with 13 being on goal. Bridget Blessie led the offensive attack, scoring both goals for the Griffons. She had two goals in all of 2014 and equals her total in two games for the 2015 season. Blessie’s goals were assisted by Cassidy Chappell and Layne Shepherd. Nine other Griffons had at least one shot on goal including two shots by Sarah Dervin. This was the second straight time the Griffons produced 20 or more shots offensively.

The Griffon defense held strong again allowing only one goal and five shots on goal. Sarah Lyle recorded four saves and helped keep the Griffons undefeated in the early part of the season.

Missouri Western will head north to Minnesota as they take on Bemidji State on Friday at 3:00 p.m. and University of Minnesota-Crookston at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday.

— MWSU Athletics —

LAKE CITY, Minn. – The Missouri Western men’s golf team competed in their first event of the season, finishing tied for fifth out of 14 teams at the J.R. Watkins Invitational.  It was held at the Jewel Golf Course and was a par 71, equaling 6814 yards.

The Griffons’ Ryan Hand was the low score of the weekend, firing a 146 over the two rounds of golf which landed him tied for 11th on the leaderboard. Senior Corey Knight finished tied for 17th at during the weekend with a score of 149, scoring a 71 on the second day. Jakob Rudosky was third highest for the Griffons, recording a score of 151 and placing tied for 27th.

Missouri Western finished tied with Bemidji State with a team score of 601. The Griffons finished with a 310 on day one and 291 on the second day. Iowa Western CC scored a 569 to win the team title and Winona State earned second with a score of 580.

The Griffons will be back in action on Monday, September 14 as they travel to Monkey Island, Oklahoma for the MSSU Men’s Fall Invitational.

— MWSU Athletics —

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – The Missouri Western volleyball team bounced back with two convincing victories Saturday at the Ferris State Invitational. After dropping two tough matches Friday, the team completed sweeps of Mercyhurst and Wisconsin Parkside to return home from the event with a 2-2 record.

MATCH 1: Missouri Western 3, Mercyhurst 0

Missouri Western started day two of the event with a sweep of Mercyhurst. The Griffons took the first two sets 25-23 and the third 25-17 to pick up their first win of the season. In a back and forth first set, MWSU scored four of the final five points to take the set. Mercyhurst threatened late in the second set, scoring four-straight while facing set-point for MWSU but the Griffons were able to hold on and take the set on a Lindsey Patridge kill. Down 9-7 in the third set, the Griffons rattled off nine-straight points to take a 16-9 lead and control of the set.

Blair Russell led MWSU with 10 kills, her first double-digit kill performance as a Griffon. Jessie Thorup finished with nine kills and Partridge and Shellby Taylor each had six. Jordan Chohon had 33 assists and 10 digs, while Kayla Ruff led MWSU with 14 digs.

MATCH 2: Missouri Western 3, Wisconsin-Parkside 0

Missouri Western won its fourth-straight first set on the way to a three-set sweep that evened the team’s record to 2-2. The Griffons won set one 25-22, dominated set two 25-8 and took the final set 25-18. After jumping out to a 12-6 lead in the second, then outscored Wisconsin-Parkside 13-2 to take the set.

Thorup led the attack with 11 kills for the Griffons and Russell picked up 10, while hitting .588 in the match. The Griffons hit .311 as a team against Wisconsin-Parkside, their best match percenatge of the season. Ruff and Thorup each had eight digs with Amanda Dalbey and Audrey Keim adding seven apiece.

Thorup and Chohon were both named to the all-tournament team. Thorup had 45 kills and 37 digs while Chohon racked up 131 assists and 34 digs. The Griffons continue to stay far from St. Joseph next weekend when they head to Colorado Springs for four matches.

— MWSU Athletics —

BIG RAPIDS, Mich. – The Missouri Western volleyball team began the 2015 season with a pair of losses at the Ferris State Invitational, losing 3-2 to Saginaw Valley State Friday morning and 3-1 to Ferris State in the evening match.

MATCH 2: Ferris State 3, Missouri Western 1
Missouri Western had a rough day on the attack, hitting just .067 for the match with two players registering negative hitting percentages. Jessie Thorup led the attack with 11 kills, giving her 23 for the day. Those 11 kame on 43 attempts with five errors. In total, the Griffons had 26 attack errors.

Jordan Chohon had 21 assists and Kayla Ruff finished the match with 21 digs, while Amanda Dalbey had 11.

MATCH 1: Saginaw Valley State 3, Missouri Western 2
The team began the day with a loss in five sets to Saginaw Valley State, Friday morning.

The two teams traded sets after Missouri Western took the first with Saginaw Valley forcing the fifth set with a 26-24 win in set four. The Griffons rallied after trailing by six several times in the fourth set, including being down 24-22. Saginaw Valley controlled the fifth set, winning 15-10 to drop MWSU to 0-1 on the year.

MWSU hit .203 as a team with just three total team blocks while allowing Sagniaw Valley to hit .244 and rack up 11 total team blocks. Shellby Taylor and Jessie Thorup each finished with 14 kills but Taylor’s came with zero attack errors for a .467 hitting percentage. Rachel Friedrichs had 12 kills for the Griffons. Jordan Chohon picked up where she left off in 2014 with 47 assists for the Griffons.

— MWSU Athletics —

St. Joseph, Mo. – For the second straight year the Missouri Western soccer team started the season 1-0, and it’s the second time in school history they’ve won their season opener. The Griffons earned a victory over East Central 3-1.

The Griffons controlled the tempo offensively, generating 22 total shots and 13 shots on goal. MWSU defense held strong allowing only 9 shots on goal. The Griffons shot leader was Bridget Blessie with six shots, three of which were on goal. Newcomer Cassidy Chappell added four shots and three on goal.

Missouri Western found the net one time in first half when Nikki Birr received a pass from Layne Sheperd across the middle and wrapped it around the goalkeeper. The second goal for the Griffons came from Sydney Cluck when struck a shot near the penalty box into the back of the net. Layne Shepard added the third goal for insurance when she floated a shot over the goalies head.

Missouri Western’s defense was strong as well during the season opener. Junior Sarah Lyle allowed one goal on the night that came from a free kick which ended up headed in by Deanna Rudasill. She tallied eight saves on the night.

The Griffons will be back in action on Sunday, starting at 2:30 against Harding University. Emporia State and East Central will kick-off Sunday at noon.

— MWSU Athletics —

WARRENSBURG, Mo. – A fifth consecutive win over Central Missouri wasn’t in the cards for the Missouri Western football team Thursday night as they lost their 2015 season opener to the 20th-ranked Mules 18-17.

Turnovers and negative plays cost the Griffons who struggled to find anything on the ground.

The Griffon defense did its part, holding the Mules to 300 yards and just one touchdown but couldn’t force a turnover, while the Griffon offense had two. Missouri Western led 17-12 with six minutes to play after a 25-yard field goal from Tanner Pettet.

With less than five minutes remaining, UCM had the ball third and 20 from the UCM 20 and completed a 38 yard pass to the MWSU 42. Four plays later the Mules scored on a 27-yard touchdown pass with 3:45 to go that put the team ahead 18-17. The Griffons had two more opportunities offensively that ended in an interception and a turnover on downs.

Skyler Windmiller finished 21-38 for 313 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. He was sacked four times. Brandynn Clark caught five of his passes for 104 yards and Dee Toliver finished with four catches for 84 yards and a touchdown before leaving with an injury. Raphael Spencer had 21 rushes for 30 yards and a touchdown. As a team, the Griffons rushed 35 times for 37 yards after 49 yards in lost rush yards on 86 gained.

It was just the second time in the last 13 meetings that Central Missouri has defeated Missouri Western and the first time in the last five. MWSU returns to St. Joseph to take on Central Oklahoma next Saturday, Sept. 12.

— MWSU Athletics —