By FHSU SPORTS INFORMATION
MARYVILLE, Mo. – Fort Hays State fell down two sets and made a furious rally to force a fifth set, but saw No. 12 ranked Northwest Missouri State counter with a late rally of its own in the final frame and survive on its home floor Friday night (Oct. 28). The Bearcats picked up their eighth-straight win and kept pace with Nebraska-Kearney at the top of the MIAA standings, now 20-5 overall and 14-3 in the MIAA. The Tigers moved to 10-16 overall and 5-13 in the MIAA.
Fort Hays State started well in the first set, building a 6-3 lead early, but Northwest Missouri State reeled off six straight points to take a 9-6 lead. The Bearcats never looked back the remainder of the set and went on to win 25-15, hitting .367. The teams played to a 9-9 tie in the second set before the Bearcats used a 3-0 burst to take a 12-9 lead and held on to the advantage the remainder of the set, which ended in a score of 25-17.
Down two sets, the Tigers came out swinging in the third. They put down 21 kills and also recorded a pair of blocks to overpower the Bearcats and thwart any thought of a three-set sweep. The Tigers hit .293 in the set, led by Emily Ellis with six kills on eight attempts, while Riley Tinder added five kills and Claire Olson and Mykah Eshbaugh each had four. FHSU took the set 25-22.
The Tigers kept pounding away at the Bearcats in the fourth, hitting a blistering .387 with 14 kills and just two errors on 31 attempts. Eshbaugh led the Tiger charge in the set with four more kills, while Ellis smashed down three. Ellis recorded a .692 hitting percentage over the third and fourth sets with nine kills on 13 attempts in that span. She also added a pair of service aces in the fourth, while Jaida Felix had a pair as well. The Tigers used a 6-0 run to fuel their momentum in the middle of the set, going from a 9-7 deficit to a 13-9 lead. They eventually forced the decisive fifth set with a 25-19 win.
The Tigers looked on the verge of completing a big-time comeback in the fifth, only to see the Bearcats swipe the opportunity away at the end. FHSU took the early lead and kept control all the way up to a 13-8 lead, needing just two points to close out the match. But a trio of errors allowed the Bearcats to get three points back, a kill brought them within one, and then another Tiger error knotted the match at 13-13. Out of a timeout, the Tigers committed another error and then saw Payton Kirchhoefer put down a kill to complete a seven-point Bearcat rally to finish the match. Eshbaugh and Olson each put down four kills in the set for the Tigers, while Ellis added three. Despite trailing the majority of the set, the Bearcats managed to go errorless on the attack in the set with 10 kills on 32 attempts. The Tigers were errorless on the attack in the set before the start of the late Bearcat rally.
Ellis led the Tigers with 19 points scored, putting down a team-high 16 kills with a red-hot .412 hitting percentage for the match. Eshbaugh was right behind with 15 kills, while Tinder finished with a big double-double effort of 14 kills and a team-leading 27 digs. Olson also reached double figures in kills with 12. Caiya Stucky and Felix were nearly identical in assist production with 25 and 24 respectively. Jaden Daffer joined Tinder in having at least five digs per set, finishing with 25.
Avery Kemp led the Bearcats in kills with 17, followed by Jaden Ferguson with 14, Kirchhoefer with 13, and Abby Brunssen with 12. Alyssa Rezac had 58 assists. Five Bearcats finished in double figures for digs, led by Kyuh Luhring with 27.
The final tallies indicated a very tight match overall, even though three of the sets were decided by six or more points. NWMSU held slim edges in kills (67-66), digs (108-104), and blocks (7-5). NWMSU hit .249 for the match, compared to .222 for FHSU. Both teams were a little north of 200 attack attempts in the match, FHSU holding the edge 207-201 in that category.
Fort Hays State returns to action on Friday (Nov. 4) in Hays, hosting Pittsburg State at 6 p.m. inside Gross Memorial Coliseum.