Fort Hays State University Volleyball fell 3-1 (25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 25-21) to Emporia State in its season finale on Saturday, Nov. 15.<\/p>\n
The Tigers close out the year at 13-18 overall and 7-15 in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, dropping the final five games of the season.<\/p>\n
FHSU battled throughout the first two sets, but fell 25-20 in both games.\u00a0 After crawling back to within one (16-15) in the first, FHSU dropped three quick points to fall behind by four and were unable to recover.\u00a0 The second set saw FHSU fall behind, 9-4, early before ESU extended the lead to 11 (23-22) soon after.\u00a0 At that point, the Tigers ran off seven unanswered to cut the lead to four, 23-19, but couldn’t complete the comeback.<\/p>\n
Out of the break, FHSU roared out to a 9-3 lead, holding a six-point advantage for much of the set (12-6 and 22-16).\u00a0 ESU climbed back to within one, 22-21, but the Tigers recovered with three straight points to take the set, 25-21.<\/p>\n
Tied 15-all midway through the fourth, FHSU needed a game win to force a fifth-set, but a 4-0 run by the Hornets provided breathing room that sent the match to final, 25-21.<\/p>\n
Taylor Mares<\/a><\/dfn> closed out her FHSU career in impressive fashion, racking up a match-high 21 kills with a .404 hitting percentage, adding three blocks in the effort.\u00a0 Callie Christensen<\/a><\/dfn> had a team-high five blocks and seven kills, hitting .300 in her final game of her freshman campaign.<\/p>\n Kristin Conor<\/a><\/dfn> led the team with 29 assists in the match, digging up nine attacks while sharing the setter role with Raegan Vanderplas<\/a><\/dfn>, who had 13 assists and 15 digs.<\/p>\n