By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
The Fort Hays State volleyball team wrapped up play in the 2021 Tiger Classic with a pair of victories on Saturday (Sept. 11). The Tigers opened the day with a four-set victory against Black Hills State before taking down Adams State in four sets in the weekend finale.
The Tigers improved to 5-3 with the win, with the Yellow Jackets of BHSU moving to 3-5 and the Grizzlies dipping to 4-5 overall.
Five Tigers reached double figures between two matches, including a team-high 26 kills from Riley Tinder. She also added 20 digs and four blocks on the day.
Emily Ellis totaled 20 kills and seven blocks between the two victories, with Isabelle Reynolds adding 18 kills and 25 digs. Morgan Christiansen accumulated 17 kills and 11 blocks, while Mykah Eshbaugh chipped in 14 kills and three blocks.
Elysia Glowacz dished out 55 assists on the day and added 19 digs, while Jaida Felix accumulated 40 assists and 20 digs. Libero Jaden Daffer paced the team with 28 digs across the eight sets.
Fort Hays State continues its homestand next weekend when the Tigers host matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 17-19). First up is a date with Washburn at 6 p.m. Friday before a Saturday afternoon match against Emporia State at 3 p.m. and a Sunday finale against Northwestern Oklahoma State at 2 p.m.
Fort Hays State 3, Black Hills State 1 (25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 25-23)
The Tigers opened the day with a strong win against Black Hills State. The Tigers totaled 13 blocks in the win, including 10 from Christiansen which is tied for second-most in a four-set match in the rally scoring era at FHSU. FHSU also outhit the Yellow Jackets, .231 to .182, thanks to highly effective offense in the first and second sets.
Fort Hays State recorded just three errors across the first and second sets, hitting .333 in the opening frame and .382 in the second set. Tinder finished the match with a team-high 13 kills, including 10 kills in the first two sets.
The Tigers built a sizeable lead early in the first set, 15-7, before BHSU clawed back to eventually level the score at 17. With the score later tied at 20, Eshbaugh opened a Tiger run with a kill. Tinder followed with two kills and a service ace before a Yellow Jacket miscue gave the Tigers a 25-20 victory.
Fort Hays State used another big run to pull away late in the second set, scoring seven consecutive points to turn a 17-15 margin into a 24-15 edge. A BHSU error two plays later brought the set to a close, 25-16.
The teams then battled in a pair of close frames in sets three and four, with Black Hills State staying alive with a 25-23 win before FHSU sealed the win with the same score in the fourth stanza.
The Tigers trailed by as many as three in the final frame and found themselves behind as late as 22-21. But another late run secured the victory, with the Tigers taking four of the last five points.
Ellis totaled 11 kills and three blocks in the win, while Christiansen had six kills alongside her 10 blocks. Reynolds added nine blocks and 11 digs, with Olson contributing five kills and five blocks. Felix recorded a double-double with 16 assists and 10 blocks and added three service aces, with Glowacz leading the team with 23 assists alongside seven digs. Daffer led the team with 14 digs.
Fort Hays State 3, Adams State 1 (25-21, 19-25, 25-17, 25-22)
Fort Hays State wrapped up the tournament with an impressive victory against Adams State in four sets. The Tigers grabbed the opening set before the Grizzlies leveled the match with a second-set win. FHSU then pulled away for a convincing win in the third set and held on in the fourth to seal the win.
Tinder collected a team-best five kills in the opening set, including kills on each of the final two points to secure the 25-21 win. Adams State pulled away late to take the second set, scoring eight of the final nine points to win 25-19.
Adams State miscues helped the Tigers take the third set. The Grizzlies picked up one more kill than the Tigers in the frame, 13-12, but FHSU forced the visitors into 10 attack errors. The Tigers then used an effective .324 attack percentage in the fourth set to secure the victory with a 25-22 win.
Tinder posted a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs while adding one service ace. Christiansen picked up 11 kills, two aces and one block, while Reynolds added nine kills, 14 digs and one ace. Felix also recorded a double-double thanks to a team-best 24 assists and 10 digs. Glowacz added a double-double of her own, compiling 22 assists and 12 digs.
Fort Hays State compiled an attack percentage of .238 while holding the Grizzlies to a .172 swing rate. The Tigers distributed 53 assists in the win, 10 more than ASU.
Friday
The Fort Hays State volleyball team split another doubleheader on Friday (Sept. 10), going 1-1 on the opening day of the 2021 Tiger Classic inside Gross Memorial Coliseum. First, the Tigers gave No. 16 Southwest Minnesota State all it could handle, taking the opening set against the undefeated Mustangs before narrowly dropping the next three frames. FHSU followed that up with a dominating win over Cameron, outhitting the Aggies .391 to -.012.
The Tigers are now 3-3 on the year after winning one match and losing one match on each of the first three days of competition. Southwest Minnesota State is now 6-0 on the year, while Cameron dipped to 1-6 overall.
Fort Hays State continued its well-balanced offensive attack, with six different players picking up at least 10 kills through the two contests. Morgan Christiansen and Riley Tinder both picked up 15 kills on the day, while Emily Ellis added 12 kills and 13 blocks. Elysia Glowacz dished out 39 assists, with Jaida Felix close behind with 34. Tinder also led the team with 24 digs on the day.
No. 16 Southwest Minnesota State 3, Fort Hays State 1 (25-22, 20-25, 21-25, 22-25)
The Tigers came out of the gates hot, holding the 16th-ranked team in the country to a .000 attack percentage in the opening set while winning 25-22. Neither team could gain much of an edge through the majority of the opening set, with neither side leading by more than three points until a late Tiger run.
With the score tied at 18, Fort Hays State grabbed all the momentum with a 6-1 run to go in front 24-19. A Mustang error opened the run before three-consecutive blocks by the Tigers kept things rolling. Ellis teamed up with Claire Olson on the first two rejections before assisting Tinder on the final block, pushing the lead to 22-18.
After a Tiger error, kills from Ellis and Christiansen helped the Tigers reach match point. A service miscue four rallies later gave FHSU a 25-22 victory.
The Tigers again kept things close in the second set, leading as late as 15-14. But Southwest Minnesota State took control down the stretch, using an 8-3 run to turn a 17-17 tie into a 25-20 win.
The same was true in the next two sets, with neither side leading by more than four at any point. SMSU used late runs in both the third and fourth sets to hang on to the victory.
Christiansen led the Tigers with nine kills while adding six blocks and one service ace. Ellis recorded seven kills and seven blocks and posted an attack percentage of .294. Olson accumulated eight kills and added four blocks.
Mykah Eshbaugh also totaled eight kills, with Isabelle Reynolds adding seven kills and five blocks. Tinder picked up five blocks, two assists, one service ace and a team-best 16 digs.
Glowacz led the Tigers with 22 assists, while Felix recorded a double-double with 19 assists and 10 digs.
Fort Hays State picked up 13 blocks in the win while adding 62 digs as a team on defense. SMSU held a slight edge in attack percentage, .200 to .162.
Fort Hays State 3, Cameron 0 (25-16, 25-13, 25-10)
The Tigers took care of business in the night cap, cruising past the Aggies in straight sets. Fort Hays State recorded just eight attack errors in the match while holding Cameron to 18 kills and 19 errors.
Fort Hays State never trailed by more than one point in the victory. Cameron led as late as 7-6 in the second set and 4-3 in the third set, while FHSU was never behind in the opening frame.
Tinder went to work in the opening set, dropping in five kills in a 6-1 FHSU run midway through the frame that stretched the lead to 20-10. The Tigers blew the second set open with a 7-0 run to reach set point before using an 8-0 run to pull away in the final stanza.
Tinder did not make an attacking error in the win, totaling 11 kills on 19 swings for a .579 attack percentage. She added eight digs and one block on defense.
Reynolds chipped in seven kills and seven digs, with Christiansen compiling six kills and two blocks. Ellis totaled five kills and six blocks, including one solo rejection.
Glowacz picked up 17 assists and one service ace while Felix contributed 15 assists, two aces and five digs.