ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Saturday's home opener saw Griffon Volleyball lose to a top-25 team for a second consecutive day, as No. 18 Central Missouri left the MWSU Fieldhouse with a 3-0 win.
SET 1
UCM 25, MWSU 18
The Griffons (3-7, 0-2 MIAA) started set one with some momentum, rattling off a 3-0 run to lead the Jennies 3-1 early. However, Central Missouri (6-4, 2-0 MIAA) responded with its own 5-0 spurt to take a permanent lead for the rest of the game. Missouri Western came close with a 4-0 jolt to cut into the lead at 11-9, but the Jennies used two more stretches of three-straight points to take the first tally of the match.
SET 2
UCM 25, MWSU 22
For a second-straight match, MWSU competed at its highest level in the second set. The Griffons grabbed a 3-1 lead with three points in a row courtesy of kills by
Emma Salker and
Jessica Hendrix. Both Griffon hitters tallied four kills apiece throughout the span of the second set.
Another 3-0 run put Missouri Western up 7-3 after
Danielle Moje joined in on the scoring, notching five of her seven kills coming in one set. The Griffons built their largest lead at 21-16, but the Jennies jumped back ahead with a 6-0 run that saw the first three points occurring due to MWSU attack errors. After Salker tied the set at 22-22 with a kill, UCM put three-straight more on the board to win 25-22.
SET 3
UCM 25, MWSU 11
Central Missouri built a commanding lead to start what would be the final set of the day, going up 7-0 early. After MWSU got on the board, the largest run of the contest occurred with the Jennies taking eight-straight points — four as a consequence of MWSU errors and bad sets. Leading 14-1, the Jennies used another 5-0 run to keep the Griffons at arm's reach and eventually earn the 3-0 victory.
NOTABLES
- Missouri Western only recorded four kills in set three.
- Danielle Moje and Jessica Hendrix led the Griffons in kills with seven each.
- Freshman Lia Graham continues to lead the Griffons in digs, this time pulling out a team-high of 12.
- Saturday's home opener saw a total of seven ties and four lead changes throughout the match.
- UCM tallied 11.5 blocks, while MWSU notched five. The Jennies had 4.5 blocks in the third set.
- This is Griffon's fourth match vs. a top-25 team this season. They are 0-4 in those matchups with two matches going all five sets (Aug. 27 vs. then-No. 22 Hillsdale College; Sept. 2 vs. then-No. 13 Southwest Minnesota State).
- Saturday marks UCM's fourth-straight victory.
NEXT UP
The Griffons get the next five days off from competition and return to action on Friday, Sept. 16 for a 6 p.m. match with Missouri Southern (5-5, 0-2 MIAA) in Joplin, Missouri. The Lions started 0-2 in MIAA play with back-to-back 3-1 losses to Newman and Central Oklahoma on Friday and Saturday.
