Season ends for Emporia State Volleyball with loss in MIAA Tournament

November 16, 2023-Emporia State saw their season come to a close in a 3-0 loss to top seeded Central Missouri in the quarterfinals of the MIAA Tournament on Thursday evening in St. Joseph, Mo.

The Hornets and Jennies battled through a first set that saw 17 ties and seven lead changes. Neither team took more than a two point lead until Emporia State scored four straight to take a 17-14 lead and force a Central Missouri timeout.  The Jennies answered with a 5-1 run of their own to go ahead 19-18.  Sandora Sasaki scored four of the next six points on three kills and an ace to give the Hornets a 22-21 lead.  UCM answered with three straight to force the first set point.  ESU scored on a Central Missouri error and an ace by Anakaren Chavez to knot the set at 24.  Kills by Rachel Ziesman and Elinor Engel gave the Jennies a 26-24 win as they took a 1-0 lead in the match.
 
Sasaki recorded a kill to start the second for Emporia State but Central Missouri scored the next three points and never trailed in the set.  An ace from Sasaki made it 15-10 before the Jennies rolled off nine straight points on the way to a 25-11 win.
 
The Hornets bounced back to start the third set. After going back and forth through the first ten points, Emporia State scored four straight and took a 9-5 lead on a Sasaki kill. UCM used a 4-1 run to tie things up at 12 and the teams would trade scores over the next six points.  Three straight points turned a 15-14 Hornet lead into a 17-15 edge for the Jennies and they would not trail the rest of the match. Emporia State did fight off three match points before Sydney Lierz got a kill to send the Jennies on to the semifinals.
 
Sandora Sasaki had a match high 17 kills while Brailee Bogle dished 26 assists and Anakaren Chavez had 11 digs. 
 
The Hornets end their season 13-16, a nine game improvement over last season. Including the libero position they are set to return seven players that started at least ten matches this season.
 
NOTES
Sandora Sasaki broke the previous record of 4.68 kills per set by Arica Shepard in 2007.
Sandora Sasaki finished the season with 503 kills , the first Hornet to record at least 500 kills in a season since Arica Shepard had 524 in 35 matches during the 2009 season. It is the third highest kill total by a Hornet in the 21^st century.
This was the first neutral site loss of the season for Emporia State.
11 of Emporia State's 16 losses came to teams that were ranked or receiving votes in the AVCA National Poll at the time.