Box Score October 30, 2016 - The Emporia State volleyball game snagged another five set win (22-25, 12-25, 29-27, 25-23, 15-7) Sunday afternoon against Missouri Western to improve to 13-15 on the season, 5-9 in the MIAA.
The Hornets jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the first set to force a Griffon timeout. Emporia State stayed ahead until Missouri Western went on a 9-1 run to go up 17-13. The Hornets scored three straight points, two coming from Jamie Hauptman kills, to close the gap 17-16. Emporia State hung with Missouri Western until they went on another run, this time a 4-1 run to take a 24-20 lead. The Griffons fought through three set points until Ashley Mainord finished it on a kill for Missouri Western to win 25-22 in set one. After the first set, Hauptman led with five kills on .400 hitting.
The Griffons had an early 6-1 lead in the second set before the Hornets would take a timeout. Hauptman had a kill out of the timeout to close the gap 6-2. Missouri Western had control the rest of the set, winning 25-12 and taking a 2-0 lead in the match. The Hornets were held to a -.135 hitting percentage in the second set with just six kills on 11 errors.
Missouri Western took control early again in the third set, going up 8-4 when Emporia State took a timeout. After the timeout, the Griffons went ona 5-1 run to take a 13-5 lead. Missouri Western maintained the lead until Emporia State went on a 12-4 run to take a 20-19 lead. The Griffons answered with a 3-1 run to take back the lead 22-21. A block from Shayla Cotman and Hauptman tied the game again at 22 a piece. After tying the game again at 23-23, Missouri Western jumped ahead to face their first match point at 24-23 after a kill from Blair Russell, forcing an Emporia State timeout. Back-to-back kills from Tatum Graves and Taylor Otting gave the Hornets their first set point at 25-24. Two straight points from the Griffons gave them their second match point at 26-25. A kill from Logan Morrow tied the game again, this time at 26-26. Another Missouri Western kill gave them a third match set at 27-26. Emporia State ended the set on three straight kills, one from Cotman and two back-to-back kills from Otting, to win 29-27 and force a fourth set. Otting had eight kills in the third set while Allie Maloney racked up 13 digs in the set.
With the Griffons still in the lead 2-1 in the match, Missouri Western had a 4-2 lead in the fourth set before Emporia State went on a 5-0 run to take a 7-4 lead and force a Griffon timeout. A 8-3 run by Missouri Western gave them a 12-10 lead when Emporia State took a timeout. There were five tied scores until a 3-0 Griffon run; Missouri Western took a 20-17 lead and the Hornets took another timeout. Out of the timeout, Emporia State answered with their own 3-0 run due to two Otting kills and a block from Otting and Cotman to tie the game 20-20. After a Griffon kill, the Hornets scored two straight points to take a 22-21 lead and force a Missouri Western timeout. There were two more tied scores, the final coming at 23-23 before Emporia State scored back-to-back points to take the set 25-23 and force a fifth and final set.
After two tied scores in the first four points, the Hornets took a 6-3 lead in the fifth set. A 5-0 run by Emporia State to take a 11-6 lead sealed the deal en route to a 15-7 set win, taking the match 3-2 after trailing 2-0. The Hornets hit eight for 16 in the fifth set with no errors for a .500 hitting percentage.
Otting led all players with a season high 17 kills adding eight digs three blocks and one ace. Hauptman joined her in double figures with 13 kills with only three errors for a team high .303 hitting percentage. Hauptman also had five blocks. Cotman added another 11 kills and led the Hornets with a season high eight blocks. Graves was just shy of double figures with nine kills, also with five bocks. Morrow had eight kills off the bench and two blocks. Kimberly Bell had a season high 31 assists joined by Emma Dixon with a double-double of 22 assists and ten digs. Maloney led all players with 31 digs followed by Julia Joseph with 17 digs, which ties Joseph's career high. Emporia State had 13 team blocks on the day and improved to 5-3 in five set matches and 5-3 at home.
Emporia State will travel to #15 Central Missouri on Friday, Nov. 4 for a 6:00 p.m. match start. Then, on Friday, Nov. 5, the Hornets will be at Lindenwood for another 6:00 p.m. game. This will be the final road trip for Emporia State in the regular season.
