Emporia State Volleyball drops five-set battle against Missouri Western

October 31, 2024 – For the third time in five days, Emporia State Volleyball played from White Auditorium to the fifth set, this time against #23 Missouri Western on Halloween night.

In the first set, the Hornets limited the Griffons to just nine kills and .200 hitting but made eight errors, allowing Missouri Western to pull away and win the first set 25-17. Emporia State was able to flip the script in the second set. After the Griffons took an early 5-2 lead, the Hornets rolled to an 8-1 victory that included four Griffon errors and two service aces to give Emporia State a 10-6 lead. The Hornets led for most of the remainder of the second set, and despite a late attempt by Missouri Western to cut the lead to 22-21, three more Griffon errors allowed the Hornets to take three straight points and take the set Win 25-21 and even the game.

Set three was the best offensive set of the night for Emporia State as they hit .214 and had 16 kills, winning the third 25-23. In the fourth set, Missouri Western controlled the set, hitting nearly .500 and forcing eight Hornet errors to tie the match with a 25-10 win in the fourth set.

Emporia State got off to a slow start in the fifth period, allowing Missouri Western to take an early 5-2 lead. After the guests' early run, the Hornets got back on track and finally brought the score to 9:9. After the two teams traded points, Missouri Western finished with a 5-1 scoreline, took the fifth game 15-11 and won the game 3-2.

The Hornets hit just .072 on the night while the Griffons hit .209. Emporia State was led on offense by Weronika Wrzesinska And Zuzanna Buchnajzer who had 15 and 10 kills respectively. McKenya Sorrells had nine kills with .286 hits and Brailee Bogle And Sydney Fiatte combined for 44 assists in the game. In defense, Rayishon Jackman had a team high of 22 digs and Mia Frisbie had five block assists, her seventh game this season with five or more block assists.

Emporia State's homestand concludes next weekend with matchups against Fort Hays State and Nebraska-Kearney. The Hornets will face the Tigers on Friday, November 8th. First serve is scheduled for 6:00 p.m