FHSU Sports Information Department
DENVER, Colo. – Fort Hays State continued its red-hot play on Saturday by completing a weekend sweep of four matches at Johnson & Wales University. The Tiger offense was on fire throughout the weekend as York College and Johnson & Wales fell victim on Saturday, both in straight sets. With the wins, FHSU improved to 8-4 overall on the year and 7-1 in its last eight matches.
Fort Hays State 3, York College (Neb.) 0
The Tigers had an amazing offensive effort in a three-set win over York College, hitting a season-high .523 as a team. Committing just three hitting errors in the entire match, FHSU produced 37 kills on 65 attempts. On the flip side, York couldn’t find a consistent attack, hitting -.049. Mallory Flagor led the way for the Tigers with nine kills in the match and posted a .692 hitting percentage, errorless on 13 swings. Rebekah Spainhour also chipped with seven kills, and Sydney Dixon added six. Crystal Whitten hit .714 with five kills on seven attempts without an error.
Hannah Wagy dished out 30 assists and Kailey Klibbe tied Whitten for the team lead in digs with six each.
Defensively FHSU stepped up as it did not let York score more than 14 points in a set. FHSU won by scores of 25-8, 25-14, and 25-13. The Tigers had 10 team blocks in the match, once again led by Flagor and Spainhour who had six and four blocks respectively.
Fort Hays State 3, Johnson & Wales 0
FHSU wrapped its weekend in Denver by defeating Johnson & Wales for a second time on the weekend by a score of 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-21). The Wildcats were the biggest threat to the Tigers over the weekend and held FHSU to a weekend-low .270 hitting percent in the match. However, JWU had a hitting percentage of just .121.
FHSU had hit over .400 as a team in six consecutive sets until cooling in the second set of the nightcap. FHSU hit just .195 and .229 in the final two sets, but managed to hold JWU under .100 in both.
Leading the Tiger offense once again was Mallory Flagor with 14 kills, while hitting .462. Crystal Whitten had 12 kills and added 13 digs for a double-double. Hannah Wagy was a setting machine for FHSU with 44 assists, averaging nearly 15 per set. Kailey Klibbe had a big game defensively with a team-high 26 digs.
The Tigers head back to Hays for their first home match of the season on Tuesday (Sept. 22). FHSU takes on 15th-ranked Nebraska-Kearney in each team’s MIAA opener at 7 pm.