Fort Hays State University Volleyball fell 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 25-21) to Emporia State in its season finale on Saturday, Nov. 15.
The Tigers close out the year at 13-18 overall and 7-15 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, dropping the final five games of the season.
FHSU battled throughout the first two sets, but fell 25-20 in both games. After crawling back to within one (16-15) in the first, FHSU dropped three quick points to fall behind by four and were unable to recover. The second set saw FHSU fall behind, 9-4, early before ESU extended the lead to 11 (23-22) soon after. At that point, the Tigers ran off seven unanswered to cut the lead to four, 23-19, but couldn’t complete the comeback.
Out of the break, FHSU roared out to a 9-3 lead, holding a six-point advantage for much of the set (12-6 and 22-16). ESU climbed back to within one, 22-21, but the Tigers recovered with three straight points to take the set, 25-21.
Tied 15-all midway through the fourth, FHSU needed a game win to force a fifth-set, but a 4-0 run by the Hornets provided breathing room that sent the match to final, 25-21.
Taylor Mares closed out her FHSU career in impressive fashion, racking up a match-high 21 kills with a .404 hitting percentage, adding three blocks in the effort. Callie Christensen had a team-high five blocks and seven kills, hitting .300 in her final game of her freshman campaign.
Kristin Conor led the team with 29 assists in the match, digging up nine attacks while sharing the setter role with Raegan Vanderplas, who had 13 assists and 15 digs.
Keanu Bradley posted her 14th 20-plus digs performance of the year, digging up 27 total attacks with 31 receptions on the day.