Emporia State volleyball comes up short in five set loss to Northwest Missouri

September 29, 2023-In a match that lasted nearly two and a half hours and saw 29 ties and 11 lead changes, Emporia State volleyball came up on the short end of a 25-20, 21-25, 19-25, 25-18, 15-11 loss to Northwest Missouri on Friday night in White Auditorium.
 
The Hornets led 9-4 in the first set and had a 15-9 lead before the Bearcats went on an 11-3 run to take the lead. Emporia State would be held to just .041 hitting in the opening set as Northwest Missouri took a 1-0 lead with a 25-20 victory.
 
In the second set Emporia State scored six straight points, the final five coming during Brailee Bogle's serve to take a 14-6 lead. Northwest Missouri answered with a 12-2 run to take an 18-16 lead and force the Hornets into their final timeout.  Emporia State went on a 5-0 run out of the time out to take a 21-18 lead.  McKenya Sorrells gave the Hornets their first set point on a kill before Payton Kirchhoefer answered with a kill of her own for the Bearcats. Kirchhoefer followed with a service error to give Emporia State a 25-21 win. ESU did not hit much better in the second set, connecting on just a .064 clip, but held NWMSU to .075 hitting to even the match at a set apiece.
 
The two teams went back and forth over the first 17 points of the third set with neither squad going up by more than one point.  A Sandora Sasaki kill followed by an attack error from the Bearcats gave the Hornets the first two point lead of the set. After a Bearcat kill cut the lead back to a point, the Hornets rolled off four straight points to take a 14-9 lead. They would eventually stretch the lead to eight points at 20-12 before settling for the 25-19 win and 2-1 advantage in the match.  The Hornets hit .324 as a team in the third with Sasaki getting five kills on .308 hitting and Camilla Ossola connecting on three of five attacks.
 
The fourth set started like the third with neither team able to get separation through the first nine points.  With the scored tied 4-4, Northwest went on an 8-1 run to take a 12-5 lead.   The Bearcats led 18-12 when the Hornets used a 6-1 run of their own, capped by back to back kills from Zuzanna Buchnajzer to get within 19-18. NWMSU would then score the final six points of the set, three of them on blocks to win 25-18 and force a fifth and deciding set.
 
The final set was tied at 9-9 when Northwest took advantage of an attack error and a service ace to go up 11-9.  Buchnajzer and Lillian Seigler combined on a block to make it 11-10 but Lauren Casey would convert three straight kills to give the Bearcats a 14-10 lead.  Sasaki got a kill to stave off one match point before the Bearcats closed out the set and match with a 15-11 win.
 
The Hornets got a double-double of 14 kills and ten digs from Sandora Sasaki. Zuzanna Buchnajzer added 13 kills while McKenya Sorrells added seven kills, three aces and five block assists.  Tasiah Nunnery led five Hornets in double figures in digs with 18 from her libero position. Brailee Bogle had 43 assists, 15 digs, five kills and three block assists. Shelby Ebert had 13 digs and Anakaren Chavez had 11 digs.
 
Emporia State is back in action on Saturday afternoon when they play host to Missouri Western.  First serve from White Auditorium is set for 3:00 p.m.
 
NOTES
With 14 kills, Sandora Sasaki has now reached double figures in 13 straight matches to open the season. It is the longest such streak by a Hornet since Arica Shepard reached double figure in the final 28 matches of the 2009 season.  It is the longest streak to start a season since Leah Griswold hit double figures in the first 13 matches of the 2007 season.