October 7, 2022 - Emporia State takes first set from #23 Central Missouri in four set defeat on Friday night.
In the first set, the Jennies jumped on the Hornets early by taking a 9-2 lead early on. Emporia State responded with a 7-2 run to trim the Central Missouri lead to 11-9. After the Jennies extended the lead to five points later in the set, the Hornets rallied to take their first lead of the set 22-21. Central Missouri held off three Emporia State set points before a
Winny Harris kill and a
Riley Bernskoetter claimed the first set for the Hornets.
The second set started with the Hornets leading 5-3 over the Jennies. Following a short Central Missouri rally, Emporia State responded by taking their largest lead of the set with a 12-9 advantage halfway through the set. The Jennies worked to tie the set and then went on a 10-3 scoring run to take the second set 25-18 over the Hornets.
Emporia State scored the first three points to begin the third set before the Jennies responded with three straight of their own. The Hornets were unable to hold off Central Missouri as the Jennies continued to rally throughout the set on the way to a 25-16 win in the set to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, the Hornets were unable to stifle the Jennies' momentum as Central Missouri jumped out to an early lead. Halfway through the set, Emporia State closed the Jennies advantage to 13-8 before Central Missouri ended the set with a 12-2 scoring run to take the fourth set 25-10 and the match 3-1 over Emporia State.
Zuzanna Buchnajzer and
Megan Stretton led the Hornets with 10 kills each while Buchnajzer hit .286 in the match. At the setter position,
Riley Bernskoetter tallied 22 assists while
Ainslee Stepp added 18 of her own. In defense,
Shelby Ebert led three Hornets with double-digit digs with 19 in the match.
Emporia State will return to action from White Auditorium on Saturday as they are scheduled to take on Missouri Western. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.
