FHSU Sports Information Department
HAYS, Kan. – Fort Hays State squandered a golden opportunity to knock off Missouri Western on Friday evening (Nov. 6). Up 2-1 in the match, FHSU had a four-point fourth set lead vanish as MWSU evened the match and then took the final set 15-11 to escape Hays with a win. Hitting and serving errors were a sore thumb for the Tigers in a match where they dominated almost every major stat category.
Looking at the final box score, one would think FHSU ran away with the match. FHSU had 69 kills compared to 44 for MWSU. The Tigers outhit the Griffons .179 to .104. FHSU had 111 digs to 96 for MWSU. FHSU tallied 82 points in the match to just 64 for MWSU. But it still was not enough as mental mistakes and errors proved too costly.
Missouri Western (20-6, 11-3 MIAA) recorded 14 blocks in the match, but 18 of Fort Hays State’s hitting errors were unforced. The Tigers had eight blocks in the match as 16 of Missouri Western’s attacking errors were unforced. There were just too many errors of other varieties for FHSU, including eight service errors, six reception errors, five blocking errors, and eight ball-handling errors.
The match was a defensive battle with massive amounts of digs racked up by both teams. Ari Jacobsen tied the third-most digs recorded in a match during the rally scoring era at FHSU with 39, just six shy of the school record. Crystal Whitten finished with 25 and Mallory Flagor had 17 for the Tigers. On the Missouri Western side, five players reached double figures in digs with Kayla Ruff’s 24 leading the way.
After Missouri Western took the opening set 25-21, FHSU dominated the second and third sets by scores of 25-15 and 25-18. The Tigers outhit the Griffons .227 to .059 in the second set and .225 to .000 in the third set. It felt as though the Tigers were going to run away with the match in four sets, but the momentum shifted back to the Griffons midway through the fourth. The Tigers even took a 5-1 lead in the fifth set and looked to be running away again, but the Griffons stormed back once more. Unfortunately, the Tigers committed three consecutive errors for the final three points of the match.
Rebekah Spainhour had a great match offensively with 17 kills and just two errors to hit .441. Whitten and Flagor each had 16 kills to record double-doubles with their dig counts. Sydney Dixon had 11 kills. Hannah Wagy had 61 assists, but struggled with control at times recording seven ball-handling errors.
Shellby Taylor led the Griffons with 12 kills, while Blair Russell added 10. Jordon Chohon had a double-double of 36 assists and 21 digs.
The Tigers, now 18-12 overall and 7-8 in the MIAA, look to bounce back on Saturday (Nov. 7) when they host Northwest Missouri State at 2 pm.