ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Danielle Moje led a balanced Griffon attack on Saturday afternoon with a career-high 11 kills, but Missouri Western was unable to find its rhythm after an intense second set and fell 3-1 (21-25, 27-25, 25-14, 25-19) to Fort Hays State on Saturday afternoon. The Griffons connected at a solid .217 pace (16 kills, 7 errors) in the first set but weren't able to continue the pace through the rest of the match, finishing with a .081 mark (45 kills, 31 errors) for the match. Jessica Sachen collected 20 digs in the match.
Missouri Western answered a 6-4 run by Fort Hays to open the first set with a 7-1 run of its own then held off a late charge from the Tigers to run out 25-21 winners.
The second set was a back-and-forth slugfest that saw 12 ties and four lead changes, and the Griffons were able to stave off two set points with kills by Nessa Johnson and Moje, but FHSU managed to close it out with a solo block by Morgan Christiansen.
MWSU wasn't able to recover from a 15-2 run by Fort Hays in the third set and finally found a second wind in the fourth set, but the Griffons weren't able to close the gap from 21-16.
The Griffons continue their homestand on Friday, Nov. 5, hosting Newman University at 6 p.m.