ST. JOSEPH – The Missouri Western volleyball team (16-12, 10-9) put itself in position for a winner-take-fifth place match on Saturday against Central Oklahoma with a 3-1 win over Newman (1-28, 1-9, Thursday night.
Junior Ali Tauchen joined the 1,000-kill club in the match. Tauchen needed seven coming into the match and she ended with 12, hitting the milestone in the second set.
The Griffons jumped out to a 2-0 lead, winning 25-17 in the first and 25-23 in the second. Missouri Western posted a 76% sideout percentage in the first set, scoring on 13 of Newman's 17 serves in the set. Newman won its first set in more than three weeks with a 27-25 win in the third. The Jets led 13-8 in the third before a 12-3 run put the Griffus up 20-15. Newman jumped back on top with seven straight points and led 24-22, before MWSU chipped away to force extra points. Missouri Western controlled the fourth, 25-17, holding Newman to a -.043 hitting percentage and just a 41% sideout percentage in the set.
With the victory, the Griffons were tied for fifth in the MIAA standings with Central Oklahoma. The two will close out the regular season, Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Looney Arena. The winner will face Northwest Missouri on Nov. 21 in the first round of the MIAA Championships at Hy-Vee Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. The loser will take sixth place and face Central Missouri in the opening round of the conference tournament.
NOTABLES
- Tauchen had a team-high 12 kills with 17 digs and four blocks. She ended the night with 1,005 career kills.
- Danielle Moje matched her career-high with 10 kills and added two blocks.
- Karly Tharp had five kills in the third set and eight total on the night to match her career-best.
- The Griffons had five more kills (49) than the Jets with most of the rest of the statistics pretty even.
- Tiana Butler had two of the team's three aces and led the team with 31 digs.
--- MWSU Athletics ---