By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
OKLAHOMA CITY – Fort Hays State moved to 3-1 on the season by posting a pair of three-set sweeps of Westminster College and Southwest Baptist on Saturday at the Eagle Classic, hosted by Oklahoma Christian University.
Gracie Rains led the Tigers in kills for the day with 27, followed by Riley Tinder with 19. Tinder notched a team-best 25 digs over the two matches, followed by Jaden Daffer with 22. Elysia Glowacz tallied 41 assists for the day. Mykah Eshbaugh finished the day without an error offensively with 12 kills on 31 attempts.
Fort Hays State 3, Westminster College 0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-20)
A 7-1 run by the Tigers that included a pair of service aces by Jaida Felix turned an early 4-1 deficit into an 8-5 lead in the first set. Jaden Daffer provided a pair of service aces later in the set during a 4-0 run to give the Tigers a 14-9 cushion. The Tigers went on to claim the set 25-21 as Riley Tinder provided three kills with four digs.
The Tigers scored the first three points of the second set and cruised to a 25-17 win. Gracie Rains put down a team-best five kills, part of 13 as a team within the set. Tinder added seven digs in the frame, moving into double digits for the match.
Rains remained hot in the third set by adding seven more kills to help the Tigers to a 25-20 third set win and sweep of the match. Tinder remained steady on offense throughout the contest and finished with nine kills after putting down three in each set. She nearly had a double-double for the match after finishing with a team-best 16 digs for the match. Daffer was the only other Tiger to reach double figures in digs with 12 as the team finished with 51 opposed to just 32 by the Griffins.
The Tigers grew stronger offensively as the match progressed. They hit just .100 as a team in the first set, but followed with a .222 clip in the second and .333 in the third. They produced 17 kills in the third set and finished with a .214 hitting percentage overall, while limiting Westminster to just a .178 mark. Mykah Eshbaugh was errorless for the match with seven kills on 16 attempts (.438) and Emily Ellis hit .385 with six kills and just one error on 13 attempts. Elysia Glowacz had 21 assists and Felix added 14.
Fort Hays State 3, Southwest Baptist 0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-17)
After the first set went back and forth seeing the score tied a few times to the point of 11-11. The Tigers worked their way in front to a 14-11 lead and then eventually used a 5-0 run to build a 21-14 lead. Southwest Baptist committed four straight attacking errors to allow the Tigers to take control. FHSU went on to win the set 25-16. Caiya Stucky, Gracie Rains, and Riley Tinder all had three kills in the set and helped the team hit .303 in the opening frame.
The Tigers started the second set on fire by scoring the first seven points, all on a service rally by Tinder. However, the Bearcats made a burst of their own with a 6-0 run to get back within one at 9-8. But the trend of big runs continued as the Tigers went on another 7-0 run to push their lead to 16-8. The lead eventually reached 11 at 23-14 and the Tigers went on to win the set by that margin, 25-14. Rains had four kills in the set, while Mykah Eshbaugh and Tinder each put down three. The Tigers were a smidge more efficient than their first set, hitting .355 in the second frame and holding SBU to a -.026 mark. SBU was hitting .000 for the match at that point with 19 kills and 19 errors.
The Tigers went on to complete their second straight three-set sweep on Saturday by winning the third set 25-17. Another 7-0 burst in the latter stages of the set helped put the match away. Rains put down six kills in the set, while Tinder added four. Rains finished with a team-high 13 overall and hit a blistering .500 for the match with just two errors. Tinder also reached double figures with 10, while being just one dig short of a double-double with nine.
Elysia Glowacz distributed 20 assists for the Tigers, followed by Jaida Felix with 10. Jaden Daffer had a team-high 10 digs, followed by Brooke Hyland with eight.
Eshbaugh finished the day errorless as she put down five kills on 15 attempts. She also had a team-best six blocks in the match, followed by Morgan Christiansen and Emily Ellis in that category, each with five.
The Tigers hit .260 as a team in the match, their best effort so far this season. They kept the Bearcats right on that .000 hitting percentage (28 kills, 28 errors), also a best against an opponent so far this season.
The Tigers will play four more matches next weekend at the Denton Volleyfest in Denton, Texas. FHSU will face three Great American Conference teams and one Lone Star Conference team in that tournament.
Friday
The Fort Hays State volleyball team opened its
2022 season with a 1-1 split Friday (Aug. 26) at the Eagle Classic hosted by
Oklahoma Christian. The Tigers fell in three close sets against
Illinois-Springfield before posting a dramatic five-set victory over Arkansas
Tech.
Riley
Tinder led the Tigers with 30 kills and 31 digs on the day
while adding four service aces. Making her collegiate debut, Gracie
Rains came in late to average a team-high 4.00 kills per set
over the final two frames of the ATU match. Elysia
Glowacz totaled 47 assists, averaging 5.88 per set, with Jaida
Felix adding 29 on the day (3.63 per set). Emily
Ellis led the squad with five blocks on the day, while Caiya
Stucky and Morgan
Christiansen both contributed four blocks over the two
matches.
Fort Hays State 3,
Arkansas Tech 2 (24-26, 25-14, 25-21, 25-27, 17-15)
The Tigers came out on top in a back-and-forth tussle with Arkansas Tech in the
night cap, winning in five sets. After the teams split the first four frames,
the Golden Suns raced out to an 8-1 lead in the final set. ATU later led by as
many as 12-4 before the Tigers went on a blistering run, scoring on 13 of the
next 16 rallies to collect the victory.
Arkansas Tech led by as many as five early in the opening frame, but
five-consecutive points from the Tigers helped FHSU take a 15-13 lead. The
Golden Suns then went back up by three before FHSU rallied again, tying the
score at 24, but ATU then finished things off with the final two points.
Fort Hays State left little doubt in the second set, playing highly efficient
offense and suffocating defense to cruise to a 25-14 win. The Tigers posted an
attack percentage of .323 in the second set while limiting ATU to a swing rate
of just .030. Fort Hays State also tallied four service aces in the set,
including three from Jaida
Felix and one from Riley
Tinder.
The Tigers never trailed in the third set, taking control early with five of
the first six points before answering every ATU run. The Golden Suns rallied to
tie things up five different times in the stanza, but the Tigers always
responded with multiple-point runs to regain the momentum. The final tie
occurred at 21-21 after a three-point Tech run, but two kills from Mykah
Eshbaugh and another Tinder service ace helped the Tigers seal
the 25-21 win.
Arkansas Tech came back strong in the fourth set, scoring eight of the first 10
points before leading by as many as seven, 14-7. The Tigers came roaring back
midway through the set with four consecutive kills, including two from Gracie
Rains, one from Emily
Ellis and one from Caiya
Stucky. ATU put a brief stop to the run before Ellis, Stucky
and Rains all added another kill, helping the Tigers go in front 17-16. The
teams traded points the rest of the way, with ATU eventually capitalizing on
consecutive rallies to win 27-25.
The Golden Suns continued their strong push in the final set, outscoring the
Tigers 8-1 before the teams changed sides. ATU later led by as many as eight,
12-4, before Fort Hays State came back to life. Two Golden Sun attack errors
gave the Tigers life before Mya
Vandrovec and Tinder helped the Tigers close within one,
13-12. Arkansas Tech followed with a kill, but the Tigers fought off
back-to-back match points to tie things up at 14 with kills from Tinder and
Rains. After the sides swapped points to keep the score knotted at 15, Rains
and Stucky finished off the 17-15 win with back-to-back kills.
Tinder recorded her second double-double of the day, leading the team with 16
kills and 18 digs. She added four service aces and one solo block for 21.0
points. Stucky, Eshbaugh and Rains all added four kills each, with Rains
swinging at a team-best .429 clip. Elysia
Glowacz also picked up a double-double, recording 31 assists
and 10 digs.
Illinois-Springfield 3,
Fort Hays State 0 (23-25, 16-25, 21-25)
The Tigers fell in three sets against Illinois-Springfield in the season
opener, despite holding a 7-4 lead in the blocks category against the Prairie
Stars. Riley
Tinder recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 13 assists,
while Morgan
Christiansen contributed five kills and four blocks.
UIS led by as many as five in the first set before FHSU rattled off
five-straight points to tie things up at 14-14. The teams traded points the
rest of the way before the Prairie Stars pulled out a 25-23 win.
The Tigers fell behind early in the second set, falling 25-16, before bouncing
back to score the first six points in the third set. After FHSU maintained a
six-point lead at 10-4, the Prairie Stars fought back with seven of the next
nine rallies to close within one, 12-11. Fort Hays State led as late as 16-15
before UIS closed things out with a 25-21 victory.
Tinder picked up her 14 kills on 40 swings while committing just two errors for
an attack rate of .300. Mykah
Eshbaugh tallied seven kills and two blocks. Elysia
Glowacz paced the Tigers with 16 assists, while Jaida
Felix was right behind with 13 assists. Brooke
Hyland dropped in a pair of service aces in her first
collegiate contest and libero Jaden
Daffer led the squad with 14 digs.