ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- One night after she carved her name at the top of the Missouri Western record books, Ali Tauchen added another milestone to her career as she became the 14th MWSU player to record 1,000 career digs as the Griffons dropped a see-saw battle with Central Oklahoma 3-1 (25-22, 12-25, 25-21, 28-26) on Saturday. The senior picked up a double-double with 16 kills and 11 digs, with Karly Tharp also notching a double-double with a baker's dozen each of kills and assists.
After scoring the first two points of the match, Missouri Western found itself on the wrong end of a 12-4 run, as the Bronchos strung together a pair of four-point surges to take a 12-6 lead. The Griffons were able to whittle the deficit to 24-22 before UCO closed out the first set.
The Griffons rode the momentum of the first set comeback into the second, however, holding UCO to a -.043 hitting percentage and leading wire-to-wire to level the match at one set each.
Another early Broncho run forced Missouri Western into comeback mode again, but the Griffons were only able to close within four points in the third set.
For as one-sided as the first three sets were, the fourth was anything but. After 15 ties and nine lead changes, a kill by Tharp leveled the score at 25-25. Tharp again answered the match point call with a kill to tie the score at 26-26, but Brynn Egger pushed the Bronchos back in front with her 17th kill of the night.
On the next rally, the Griffons appeared to have a chance to tie the match at 27-27, but MWSU wasn't able to find the third touch to safety after a zero block by the Bronchos.
Despite the loss, Missouri Western controls its postseason destiny heading into the final weekend of conference play, as the Griffons' magic number against Newman University is 1 with two matches left in the regular season. MWSU is on the road for both, with no. 3 Washburn first up on Friday, Nov. 12. First serve is set for 6 p.m.