The No. 12 Emporia State volleyball team came up short in a battle of Top 25 teams in a 25-23, 25-17, 23-25, 25-17 setback against No. 10 Missouri Western at White Auditorium in Emporia on Saturday night. The Griffons used a 6-1 run late in the first set to go up 1-0 before ESU hit just .083 in the second set while the Griffs hit .231 to put the Lady Hornets in a 2-0 hole. Emporia State rallied to win the third, but a late 6-2 run in the fourth sealed the win for MoWest. ESU was outhit in the match .250 to .150 with Lavra Krizanic leading the offense with 18 kills while Maja Ciosek tacked on 13. Head coach Ken Murczek was frustrated by his team’s inability to diversify their offense.
ESU wraps up the regular sason 24-4 with a 9-3 record in the MIAA. The Lady Hornets finished tied for third in the conference standings and will enter the MIAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed. Nebraska-Kearney went 12-0 in their MIAA schedule to claim the regular-season title. ESU faces No. 5 seed Central Oklahoma in the first round of the tournament on Thursday at St. Joseph’s Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo. First serve is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the last scheduled match of the day.
