ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – No. 16 Griffon Volleyball (21-7, 13-3 MIAA), the No. 2 seed in the MIAA Tournament, fell in the opening match of the 2025 championship to No. 7 seed Pittsburg State (14-14, 6-10 MIAA) in five sets, with set scores of 27-29, 25-18, 25-17, 21-25, 9-15.

Pittsburg State opened the semifinal with a 2–1 lead, but the Griffons quickly answered with a strong offensive stretch to jump ahead 13–5. The Gorillas regained momentum midway through the set, closing the gap to 16–14, though MoWest held the edge. The Griffons later pushed their advantage to 22–17 and eventually reached set point at 24–19. However, Pittsburg State rallied late and stole the opening frame, taking the first set 29–27.

The Griffons responded after dropping the opening set, bouncing back to take the next two frames. They claimed sets two and three by scores of 25-18 and 25-17 to move in front with a 2-1 lead.

In set four, MoWest and Pittsburg traded early points with the Griffons holding a 6–5 edge. The Gorillas answered with a 4–0 run to take a 9–6 lead, and the set eventually tightened back up at 13–13. Neither side could pull ahead by more than two as the score reached 20–20, but Pittsburg State finished strong, closing the frame on a 5–1 push to take the set 25–21.

In the deciding fifth set, Pitt opened on a 4-0 run, picking up right where it left off at the end of set four. The Griffons trimmed the Gorillas' lead to 6-3, but Pitt responded again to push the margin to 9-3. MoWest battled back once more to make it 9-6, yet Pittsburg State ultimately closed out the frame and upset the No. 2 seed Griffons with a final fifth-set score of 15-9.

MoWest was led by Noelle Sutcliffe with 17 kills. Emily Loy followed with 15 kills, while Taylor Russell and Holly Heldt each added 11 and 10. Emma Salker and Trista Marx chipped in nine apiece. Defensively, Heldt led the Griffons with 28 digs, while Anna Weberg added 26 and Hayley Barsky finished with 17. Barsky paced the setting unit with 35 assists, and Katelyn Diani-O'Day added 23.