MARYVILLE, Mo. – The Missouri Western volleyball team knocked off No. 25 Northwest Missouri State in five sets (16-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-15, 15-8) at Bearcat Arena on Tuesday.

After the dropping the first set, Missouri Western jumped out to a 4-1 second set lead.  After a Northwest Missouri rally, the Griffons closed out the set with 5-1 run to even the match.

After trailing early in the fourth set, MWSU would seize control of the match with a 14-2 run.  The run was highlighted by a 10-0 rally with Tiana Butler at the service line to force a fifth set. With the momentum in their favor, Missouri Western would cruise in the fifth set to win the match.

Kelsey Olion would deliver a key performance for the Griffons, ending with 17 kills, 14 digs, five blocks and an ace.  Shellby Taylor added 16 kills while Rachel Friedrich and Stephanie Doak adding 10 kills apiece.  Doak and Tiana Butler each had two aces for MWSU as well. Kayla Ruff led the defense with 23 digs on the night.

Missouri Western prepares for another ranked opponent on the road as they travel to #16 Central Missouri on Friday evening, before returning home for Senior day against Lindenwood at 2 p.m. Saturday.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – For the second consecutive week, the Missouri Western football team was shut out in the second half and lost a halftime lead for the team’s fourth-straight loss, 27-14, to No. 9 Emporia State.

The Griffons (4-6) allowed 24 unanswered points to the Hornets (9-1) after jumping out to a 14-3 lead. Missouri Western had the ball with 4:41 remaining in the second quarter at its own third and five, but failed to gain a yard before punting to Emporia State. The Hornets answered with an eight-play, 83 yard drive to cut the deficit to four points going into halftime.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, with Sean Galey missing a 38-yard field goal attempt on the first play of the fourth quarter. Emporia State answered with a seven-play, 77-yard drive that resulted in a 37-yard touchdown drive that gave the Hornets their first lead of the game, 17-14 with 10:42 remaining in the game. Corey Bertini was picked off on the first play of Missouri Western’s ensuing drive which led to a 19-yard touchdown pass to put Emporia State up 24-14. The next Griffon drive was three plays and a punt, leading to the Hornets’ final score, a 32-yard field goal.

The loss gave Missouri Western a four-game losing streak for the first time since 2008. It also led to the first six-loss regular season for the Griffons since 2004 and snapped a streak of 11-straight winning regular seasons for the Griffons.

Missouri Western was limited to 141 yards of offense in the first half, finishing with 322 for the game. The Griffons had 165 yards rushing and 157 through the air. Josh Caldwell finished with 91 yards on 18 carries with one touchdown. Corey Bertinin was 13-27 for 157 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions starting for the injured Skyler Windmiller. Donte Watkins led the Griffon defense with 12 total tackles, nine solo stops.

Prior to the game, Travis Anderson, Jorge Belcher, Joey Capul, Cameron Glenn, Daylon Harper, Charlie Sciara, Blake Vandenberg, Matthew Vincent and Mackenzie Wischmann were recognized as part of senior day festivities. The seven active Griffons and two student-assistant coaches will be a part of their final game next Saturday when Missouri Western travels to Northwest Missouri State.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western volleyball team fell to #3 Nebraska Kearney 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-15) at the MWSU Fieldhouse Saturday night.

The Griffons took an early 5-4 first set lead before UNK would go on 6-0 run.  Missouri Western would cut the lead down to 24-23 before the Lopers won the set.  MWSU could not overcome big rallies in both the second and third sets as UNK won the match.

Stephanie Doak finished with nine kills as Kelsey Olion and Rachel Fredrichs ended with eight apiece.  Lauren Murphy dished out 36 assist as Kayla Ruff recorded 15 digs.

Missouri Western travels to rival #21 Northwest Missouri on Tuesday night.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Two members of the Missouri Western football team have been named Academic All-District by CoSIDA.

Offensive Lineman Max Oeser and running back Josh Caldwell were both named to the first team. A criminal justice major, Caldwell has rushed for 1,225 yards, which currently leads the MIAA and ranks No. 5 in the nation. The sophomore has a 3.42 GPA and is a criminal justice major. Oeser has started 20 consecutive games at center, blocking for two 1,000 yard rushers.

Both Griffons are now eligible for Academic All-American status by CoSIDA. They were two of seven MIAA football student-athletes on the team. No other MIAA member had more than one representative on the team.

— MWSU Athletics —

HAYS, Kan. – The Missouri Western soccer team had its record breaking 2016 season come to an end Wednesday night in the longest game in program history.

The team lost in a shootout at No. 2-seeded Fort Hays State, 5-3, in the first round of the MIAA Tournament. The seventh seeded Griffons held the MIAA regular season co-champions scoreless through the first 110 minutes. Bridget Blessie tied the shootout 1-1 then Cassidy Menke kept it even at 2-2. Ashlyn Powers’ try was saved, leaving Fort Hays State with a 3-2 advantage. The Tigers scored on their next kick before Maddy Cowell drove her kick into the top right corner to make it a 4-3 Fort Hays State advantage. The deciding kick went off the fingertips of a diving Lexie Martin and just inside the left post to end the Griffons’ season.

For the game, Fort Hays State took just a 12-10 advantage on shots with the Griffons taking five shots on goal to Fort Hays State’s four. Missouri Western had seven corner kicks to Fort Hays State’s four as well. Martin was credited with four saves and ended the season with a 6-2-1 record.

Missouri Western set a new program record with 11 wins in a season (11-7-1) and finished higher than any previous Griffon Soccer team in the MIAA standings (t5th). The season also saw Cassidy Menke break the season record for goals (9) and become the program’s first, first team All-MIAA selection.

— MWSU Athletics —

Kansas City, Mo. – Two MIAA women’s basketball teams will begin the season ranked in the top 25 as the preseason poll was released today by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

Emporia State is fourth in the poll after being picked a top the MIAA preseason poll released earlier this season. Pittsburg State who was picked second in that poll was picked 12th in the national poll. Missouri Western and Washburn are also receiving votes in the inaugural poll.

Exhibition play for the women’s basketball teams started on Oct. 30 with teams taking to the court for real starting on Friday, Nov. 11. League play is slated to get underway on Nov. 30 with team pushing towards the MIAA Championship which will run Feb. 28, March 3-5 of 2017 for the women from campus sites and Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

— MIAA Press Release —

ST. JOSEPH – A wild final two weekends of the MIAA regular season left the Missouri Western soccer team with the No. 7 seed in the upcoming MIAA Tournament.

Missouri Western will make its third-straight MIAA Tournament appearance on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at second seeded Fort Hays State at 6 p.m. Fort Hays State shared the regular season championship with Central Missouri, but drew the second seed in the postseason tournament. The Griffons lost 3-0 at Fort Hays State in the regular season.

A 6-1 loss at No. 4-ranked Central Missouri Sunday, combined with an Emporia State loss at Nebraska-Kearney and a Lindenwood win over Northwest Missouri State left the Griffons in a three-way tie for fifth place in the MIAA standing with Emporia and Lindenwood. The Griffons drew the seven seed after losses to both earlier this season.

The Griffons end the regular season 11-7 overall and 6-5 in the MIAA. The 11 wins overall are a program record and the six MIAA wins equal the most in program history.

— MWSU Athletics —

EMPORIA, Kan. – The Missouri Western volleyball team fell 3-2 (25-22, 25-12, 27-29, 23-25, 9-15) at Emporia State Sunday afternoon.

The Griffons overcame a slow first set start by using a 12-3 run to win the set.  The second set was all Missouri Western as they raced out to a 12-3 start and close out on a 9-1 run to put Emporia State on the ropes.

After leading most of the third set, MWSU had three set points fought off by the Hornets to force a fourth set.   Ashley Mainord’s kill in the fourth set would tie it at 23 but ESU would find a way to escape, forcing a decisive fifth set.  Missouri Western would go on a 4-1 rally in the fifth set; however it was not enough to win the match.

Shellby Taylor tied her career high of 15 kills in a match for the Griffons.  Rachel Friedrichs finished with 14 kills on a .538 hitting percentage while Ashley Mainord ended with 13 kills.  Lauren Murphy paced the MWSU offense with 50 assist.

The Griffons return home on Friday, Nov. 4 as they host Fort Hays State at 7 p.m. in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

— MWSU Athletics —

TOPEKA, Kan. – It looked like the Missouri Western football team was about to come from behind and win in the closing seconds at Washburn Saturday, then an interception in the end zone ended the Griffons rally as they lost 16-13 to the Ichabods.

Trailing by three, Missouri Western had the ball second and goal at the Washburn 10-yard line with 28 seconds remaining. Then Corey Bertini lofted a pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Washburn’s Keaton Cofield in the back of the end zone, ending the game. The interception was set up by a Bertini pass to Patrick Bolton for 16 yards on a fourth and seven from the Washburn 35-yard line. The fourth down conversion was aided by a roughing the passer penalty by Washburn.

It was the third-straight loss for the Griffons and the third straight week the team had a chance to comeback late in the fourth quarter. Washburn’s defense shut out Missouri Western in the second half and limited the Griffons to 128 yards of offense.

The Griffons jumped out to a 13-3 lead and were driving to take a three-score lead, but a failed fourth down conversion at the Washburn 30-yard line with 3:36 to go in the first half set Washburn up for a long drive that resulted in a Wesley Collins touchdown run – Washburn’s only TD of the game – to make the halftime score 13-10 in favor of Missouri Western.

Two third quarter turnovers by the Griffons resulted in Perry Schmiedeler field goals that first tied the game then gave Washburn the 16-13 lead that would hold.

The Griffon defense held Washburn to 296 yards and one touchdown. Missouri Western’s offense was limited to 361 yards, well below the Griffons’ season average and also just one touchdown. Bertini entered in the second quarter after Skyler Windmiller was injured on the last play of the first quarter. Bertini finished the game 14-28 for 181 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

The loss dropped the Griffons to 4-5 on the season. Missouri Western hosts No. 10 Emporia State next week in the final home game of the 2016 season.

— MWSU Athletics —

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Missouri Western volleyball team fell 3-0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-15) at #14 Washburn Saturday night.

The Griffons took an early first set lead but Washburn would use a 7-2 rally to win the first set.  Second set saw the Ichabods shoot out of the gates with an early lead to take a 2-0 match advantage.  MWSU again would have another early lead in the third set before Washburn used a rally midway through the set for the victory.

Shellby Taylor paced Missouri Western with 14 kills and a .343 hitting percentage.  Ashley Mainord added nine kills and five blocks as Kayla Ruff finished with a match high 16 digs for MWSU.

The Griffons travel to Emporia State for a 2 p.m. match Sunday.

— MWSU Athletics —