November 2, 2018- Emporia State Volleyball opened the weekend at home with a 3-1 win over Pittsburg State. The Hornets jumped out to an early 2-0 match lead and held on against the Gorillas attack for the 3-1 win.
In the first set, the Hornets took an early 6-1 lead and would not allow the Gorillas closer than two points at 6-4. The two teams battled back and forth exchanging points to a score of 16-6 before the Hornets used a 9-3 run to extend their lead to 17-9 over the Gorillas. The Hornets would close out the set with another 7-1 run to win 25-13 and take the 1-0 match lead.
The Hornets trailed 6-1 early in the second set but used a 9-2 run to take the 10-8 lead over Pittsburg State. After the Gorillas took one point, the Hornets extended their lead to 17-13 before the Gorillas used a 3-0 run to force an Emporia State timeout. Out of the timeout the two teams exchanged points before the Hornets finished the set 25-18 with a 7-1 run to take the 2-0 match lead.
The third set was a back and forth battle to a tie score of 13-11 in favor of the Hornets. After a Gorilla timeout teams exchanged points before Pittsburg State used a 6-0 run to take the lead 18-14. The Gorillas would go on to take the set 25-19 and close the Hornets match lead to 2-1.
After the Gorillas took the first two points of the fourth set, the Hornets used a 5-1 run to take the lead at 5-3. The Hornets held off the Gorillas attack allowing just three tie scores before relinquishing the lead at 17-18 to the Gorillas. The Hornets largest deficit in the set came at 19-21 before taking the a 23-21 lead with a 4-0 run. The Hornets held on the their two point lead to win the set 25-23 and take the match 3-1 over the Gorillas.
The Hornets were led by Yuchen Du with 15 kills followed by Tatum Graves with 12. Taylor Otting and Emma Dixon each recorded double-doubles for the Honrnets. Otting recorded 11 kills and 11 digs while Dixon had 46 assists and 11 digs. Allie Maloney led all players with 27 digs followed by Jordan Evans with 22.
The Hornets will be back in action on Saturday as the host #17 Central Oklahoma on senior day at White Auditorium.
