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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Both the MIAA coaches and media expect a much improved Missouri Western Women’s Basketball team in 2018-19. The Griffons were picked in a sixth-place tie with Pittsburg State in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll and eighth in the MIAA Preseason Media Poll.

Both polls were released Tuesday morning during MIAA Basketball Media Day at the College Basketball Experience in Kansas City. A year ago the Griffons finished 12th in the MIAA regular season standings before two historical upsets vaulted the injury depleted Griffons into the semifinals of the MIAA Championships.

Seventh-year MWSU head coach Rob Edmisson will look to mold nine returners with six newcomers. The list of returners includes 2017-18 MIAA honorable mention selections Melia Richardson, Dossou Ndiaye and Cera Ledbetter. Richardson posted career-high numbers last season while Ndiaye and Ledbetter combined to give the Griffons a lethal combination in the post.

The Griffons open the 2018-19 season with an exhibition game at Mizzou on Oct. 29 before the regular season opener against Upper Iowa in Hays, Kansas on Nov. 9.

Coaches Poll
1. Central Missouri (13) – 169
2. Fort Hays State (1) – 154
3. Emporia State – 131
4. Washburn – 126
5. Central Oklahoma -113
t-6. Missouri Western – 104
t-6. Pittsburg State – 104
8. Lindenwood – 90
9. Nebraska Kearney – 73
10. Missouri Southern – 63
11. Southwest Baptist – 61
12. Northeastern State – 42
13. Northwest Missouri – 31
14. Lincoln – 13

Media Poll
1. Central Missouri (20) – 291
2. Fort Hays State (1) – 265
3. Washburn – 220
4. Emporia State – 216
5. Pittsburg State – 203
T-6. Central Oklahoma – 177
T-6. Lindenwood – 177
8. Missouri Western – 159
9. Nebraska Kearney – 146
10. Southwest Baptist – 113
11. Missouri Southern – 88
12. Northwest Missouri – 68
13. Northeastern State – 59
14. Lincoln – 23

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – After roughly four hours of weather delay, Missouri Western Men’s Golf finally began play at the Holiday Inn Express Classic at the St. Joseph Country Club. The Griffons ended the first round tied for second in the team standings with an overall score of three-over par.

Lucas Horseman leads all 100 golfers with his first round score of 67. He currently sits at -4 and two strokes ahead of the next best finisher. Horseman leads the event in par-three scoring (-3) and is the only golfer with two eagles in the round.

Joining Horseman in the top-10 is Tom Buffington. Buffington’s 71 even-par performance lands him tied for ninth place.

Patrick McCarthy is tied for 14th with a 72. McCarthy has gained ground on some of the longer holes as he has the second-best par-five scoring in the tournament (-3).

Cole Roberts ended the first round plus-two with a 73.

The field barely managed to finish the first round after more rainfall came down towards the end of play. As of Monday night, the Holiday Inn Express Classic is scheduled to tee off again on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. For information regarding delays or cancellations, look for updates released on GoGriffons.com.

— MWSU Athletics —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Missouri Western sophomore Sam Aviles has filled in quite nicely for the injured Tyler Basch. In his second week of action, the sophomore kicker was named MIAA Special Teams Athlete of the Week.

Aviles was 4-of-5 on field goal attempts Saturday in Missouri Western football’s 33-10 win at Missouri Southern. His only miss was from 57 yards out as time expired in the first half. The Smithville, Missouri native also went 3-for-3 on point after attempts and averaged 56 yards per kickoff with two touchbacks. On the season, Aviles is 5-of-6, handling all place kicking duties the last two weeks while Basch sat out with an injury.

The award gave Griffon Football three MIAA weekly awards in the past two weeks after Dom Marino was named MIAA Co-Offensive Athlete of the Week and Kobe Cummings picked up Defensive Athlete of the Week honors last week. It also gave Missouri Western its second MIAA Special Teams Athlete of the Week honor. Brandin Dandridge got the award in week two after a big punt return performance against Fort Hays State.

— MWSU Athletics —

KEARNEY, Neb. – Missouri Western Soccer improved to 8-4 (3-2 MIAA) following its road win at Nebraska Kearney (5-7, 3-2 MIAA) on Sunday. The Griffons came back to defeat the Lopers 2-1 to earn the weekend split.

NOTABLES

• The Griffons fell down 1-0 in the 34^th minute but only trailed for nine minutes before tying the game at 1-1.
• Cassidy Menke tied the game after her goal from 25 yards out near the end of the first half.
• Danny Walsh assisted Menke for the game-winning goal in the 62^nd minute to put the Griffons up 2-1.
• Missouri Western avoided dropping back-to-back games after Sunday’s win. The Griffons have not lost back-to-back regular season games since October 14, 2016.

STATS AND LEADERS

• After her two-goal performance on Sunday, Menke is tied for third in the MIAA in goals scored (8).
• Neither team was able to create many shot opportunities. Missouri Western and Nebraska Kearney each finished with just six shots.
• Sunday was Menke’s second two-goal game of the season, her first coming in a win against Emporia State on September 28.
• Anna Mayer recorded three saves in the win.

UP NEXT

• The Griffons continue road play as they travel to Southwest Baptist (0-10-2) on October 12.
• The Bearcats played two close matches over the weekend. They tied Washburn 2-2 on Friday before losing 1-0 to Emporia State on Sunday.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Four field goals and a third-straight 200-yard rushing performance helped Griffon Football (4-2) to its third-straight win, Saturday. The Griffons picked up their first road win of the season, 33-10 at Missouri Southern (0-6).

The defense has had its days. The offense was explosive for two straight weeks. Saturday, special teams helped the team match its season win total from the past two seasons.

NOTABLES

• The game was delayed an hour due to lightning
• Sam Aviles – replacing the injured Tyler Basch for the second week in a row – kicked four field goals on five attempts, scoring almost half the Griffons’ points in the game
• After a couple weeks of the offense shining, it was the defense’s turn, holding Southern to just 4.5 yards per play and four turnovers
• As a team, the Griffons rushed for 284 yards, averaging 7.3 yards per carry
• Missouri Western picked off two Missouri Southern passes to give the team 10 on the season, most in the MIAA
• The Griffon defense limited Missouri Southern to 161 yards on the ground, just a 3.7-yard per carry average

OTHER STATS & LEADERS

• Aviles totaled 15 points in the game with four made field goals and three extra points. The sophomore kicker also averaged more than 56 yards per kickoff with two touchbacks
• Shamar Griffith had a career-high 119 yards rushing, including an 86-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. It gave the Griffons three consecutive games with a running back over 100 yards
• Arnold Crayton scored his first career touchdown on a 21-yard fumble recovery return for a touchdown
• Marcus Brown forced two fumbles, had two tackles for loss and six tackles
• Kobe Cummings led the team for a second straight week with 12 tackles. The freshman also recovered a fumble
• Luke Theis averaged 45.3 yards per punt and downed all three of his punts inside the Missouri Southern 20-yard line
• Brandin Dandridge had 83 punt return yards on three returns that included a long of 58

UP NEXT

• Homecoming on Oct. 13 against Central Oklahoma (3-3) at 1 p.m.
• UCO defeated Central Missouri 33-26, Saturday, in Edmond

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Griffon Volleyball (11-10, 4-5) took No. 19-ranked Central Oklahoma (19-4, 7-2) to the wire, but fell in five sets to the Bronchos, Saturday afternoon.

As has been the case between the two conference rivals over three-straight match-ups, the teams went back and forth, trading sets to get to the deciding fifth. The fifth belonged to UCO, winning 15-5 for the team’s 19^th victory of the season.

NOTABLES

• The Griffons fell to 0-5 in five-set matches this season
• It was the sixth match this season against a ranked opponent for MWSU, all losses, but three went five sets
• Missouri Western bounced back from a 25-12 loss in the third to win the fourth 25-23 and force the fifth set
• Three Griffons finished with double-digit kills, a first for the team since a four-set win over Lindenwood on Sept. 15
• Stephanie Doak ended the match needing just 12 more kills to reach 1,000 in her career
• Shellby Taylor needs 34 more kills to hit 1,000 for her career after Saturday’s match

LEADERS

• Ali Tauchen had a double-double with a career and team-high 27 digs to go with her 13 kills. She added seven blocks and an assist
• Shellby Taylor had a team-high 16 kills
• Rachel Losch came one kill short of matching her career high with 12
• Liv Winker led the team with 45 assists, one short of her career-high and added a career-high five kills on a .308 hitting percentage

UP NEXT

• A non-conference home match against William Jewell on Tuesday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

EMPORIA, Kan. – Missouri Western men’s and women’s cross country competed at the Emporia State Invitational on Saturday. The women’s team earned third place in the 5K race while the men finished fifth in the 8K. The women’s field totaled 11 teams and the men’s field included 13 teams.

The women’s team finished with an average time of 20:08. Missouri Western was also one of only two teams to finish with two runners in the top-10. Megan Gillen and Allison Goos finished seventh and eighth respectively to lead the Griffons. Gillen finished the event with a time of 19:41. Gillen has been the top-finisher for the Griffons in each of their meets this season. Allison Goos finished just three seconds behind Gillen at 19:44. Her second place team finish is one her best performances of the season. Goos shaved seven seconds off of her time from the last 5K she ran at the Missouri Southern Stampede in September.

Kelsey Cox rounded out the top-three for the Griffon women. Her time of 20:17 placed her 22nd overall at the event.

The men finished with an average time of 28:04 in the 8K race. Riley Gorham led the Griffons for the second-straight week in his 11th place finish. Gorham finished with a time of 27:23. Andrew Wright finished 18th with a time of 27:47

Brandon Colner finished in 20th place and was followed by James Zeismer who finished 22nd.

The Griffons’ next race will be their last competition before the MIAA Championships. They will head to Warrensburg for the Central Missouri Mule Run on October 20.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Griffon Volleyball (11-9, 4-4) got its second-straight MIAA sweep Friday night in the fieldhouse, handing Pittsburg State (15-6, 4-4) its sixth loss of the season.

The Griffons used a dominant first set (25-12) to set the tone before seizing control early in the next two sets and rolling to the team’s 11^th win of the season.

NOTABLES

• The Griffons hit .444 in the first set and limited Pittsburg State to an .091 hitting percentage in the set
• Pittsburg State didn’t hit better than its .105 average in the second in the entire match
• MWSU got out to hot starts in all three sets, staking a 5-1 lead in the first; a 10-4 lead in the second and an 11-4 lead in the third
• Missouri Western limited Pitt State’s top hitter, Lauren Reiger, to eight kills and an .061 hitting percentage
• The Griffons had 10 total blocks to the Gorillas’ six

LEADERS

• Stephanie Doak led the team with 10 kills and now needs 20 more to reach 1,000 kills in her career
• Rachel Losch had a team-high seven blocks to go along with her 10 kills
• Ali Tauchen led the team from her middle hitter position with 13 digs. Audrey Keim had 12.
• Shellby Taylor had five kills and five blocks

UP NEXT

• No. 19 Central Oklahoma (18-4, 6-2) visits the MWSU Fieldhouse, Saturday, at 3 p.m.
• UCO defeated Northwest Missouri in five sets Friday night.

— MWSU Athletics —

HAYS, Kan. – Griffon Soccer (7-4, 2-2 MIAA) fell 2-1 on the road to Fort Hays (4-5-2, 2-2 MIAA) on Friday evening. The Tigers held Missouri Western scoreless until the 90^th minute, when Claire Meyers gave the Griffons their first score of the game.

NOTABLES

• The Griffons trailed for almost the entire game after the Tigers took advantage of a defensive lapse for the game’s first goal in the seventh minute.
• Missouri Western is now 1-4 this season in games in which they do not score two goals. They are 6-0 in games where they score at least two goals.
• Friday’s loss in the Griffons is their first road loss since the third game of the season on September 7 against Augustana.
• Missouri Western has played well after losses in recent memory. The Griffons have not lost back-to-back regular season games since October 14, 2016.

STATS AND LEADERS

• The Griffons struggled to get good looks offensively and finished the game with four shots on goal.
• Claire Meyers finished with a team-high three shots.
• Mackenzie O’Neill was tied for second on the team with two shots and one shot on goal.
• Claire Meyers’ goal near the end of regulation brings her season total to four goals. Meyers is second on the team behind Cassidy Menke is goals scored.

UP NEXT

• The Griffons will play on the road at Nebraska Kearney at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday October 7.
• The Lopers are 4-6 (2-1 MIAA) going into their game against Northwest Missouri on Friday.

— MWSU Athletics —

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – The Missouri Western men’s golf team officially passed the midway point of the fall season after wrapping up at the Western New Mexico Fall Intercollegiate in Albuquerque on Tuesday. Missouri Western finished the event in the middle of the pack, placing ninth out of the eighteen teams.

The Griffons jumped two spots up from the eleventh spot on Tuesday. The Griffons had the best single round team score out of all of the competing teams as they when they posted a 292 in the second round.

As for jumping up the leaderboards, Patrick McCarthy did just that on Tuesday. McCarthy advanced 38 spots up to tie for 19th place with 70 in the third round. His third round score was the team’s best individual score at the tournament. McCarthy finished with a plus-10 over the three rounds.

Axel Johansson ended just one stroke back of McCarthy at 11-over par. He was also just one of only 12 players to get an eagle at the tournament.

Lucas Horseman and Tom Buffington each tied for 43rd at 15-over. Buffington had nine birdies at the event which was the most on the team. It was also tied for the fifth-most out of the entire field.

Missouri Western Men’s Golf will have the chance to play on their home course in their next competition. They will compete in the Holiday Inn Express Classic at the St. Joseph Country Club on October 8 and October 9.

— MWSU Athletics —