September 3, 2026 - Emporia State volleyball rallied from a 2-1 deficit on the road Thursday night, as they defeated Sioux Falls in five frames to open the USF Classic.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sioux Falls jumped in front of the Hornets at the start of the night, taking a 7-2 advantage before Emporia State finally found their footing. The Hornets answered with four straight points to force a Cougar timeout. Sioux Falls continued to carry a small lead throughout the first set, but with the hosts leading 16-13, Emporia State scored six straight to a take 19-16 lead, their first lead of the frame. The Cougars pulled back level at 21-21, but the Hornets clinched the first set 25-21 with four straight points.
Set two was back and forth early on, and after Sioux Falls jumped ahead 11-10, the hosts never allowed the Hornets to pull back level in the set on their way to a 25-21 win of their own to even the match.
The Cougars carried their momentum from set two into the third, building a 10-4 lead in set three. Emporia State pushed back, eventually trimming the deficit to 13-12, but they were unable to pull level and move in front, as Sioux Falls took the third 25-20 to take a 2-1 advantage on the night.
Emporia State responded in decisive fashion in the fourth frame, opening with eight of the first ten points over the Cougars. Following two points by Sioux Falls to make the score 8-4, the Hornets put together a 10-1 scoring run to build an 18-5 lead before closing out the set 25-13.
Set five was tightly contested from start to finish, as neither team scored more than two consecutive points as the set was eventually tied 12-12. Following a lengthy back-and-forth rally, the Hornets came out with the point on a Piper Bahr kill. Both teams committed errors before Emporia State closed it out 15-13 on another kill by Bahr, her 20th of the match.
A LOOK AT THE STATS
Emporia State hit .221 in the match with three players tallying double-digit kills. Piper Bahr led the way with a career-high 20 kills while Delainee Dexter and Lavra Krizanic had 13 and 12 respectively. Brailee Bogle had 49 assists in the match, her most since the 2024 season.
UP NEXT
The Hornets will play two matches on Friday, September 4 at the USF Classic. Emporia State will begin the day against UMary at 10:00 a.m. before playing Augustana at 7:00 p.m.
