Hall of Fame
The 1979 Lady Griffons CSIC championship team will be the first ever volleyball team inducted into the MWSU Hall of Fame and joins the six previous volleyball individual inductees. This team rattled off consecutive winning streaks of 17 and 18 matches separated by only a single loss to Kearney State. That lone conference loss was the only blemish on their 13-1 CSIC record. The 13-1 conference record contributed to their 48-11-2 overall record on the season.
In only the fifth year of the program headed up by legendary Hall of Fame coach, Rhesa Sumrell, the Lady Griffons competed in the Kansas State Invitational winning or tying matches against larger schools Oklahoma State, Drake and Kansas State. In 1979, Missouri Western also hosted and won the first ever Missouri Western Invitational going 5-0.
The team was well represented in post season awards including All-CSIC first team selections Kay Keller and Jean Haffner, All-CSIC second team selections Chris Sumrell and Sara Nolte and All-CSIC Honorable Mention selection Cathy Cox. After winning the first ever Missouri Western CSIC volleyball championship, these Lady Griffons went on to be runner-up in the Region VI Tournament, posting a 6-2 record and qualified for their second-consecutive AIAW National tournament — played in Orlando, Florida — in the program's five-year existence.
